Series rewrite
by Shardwing52
Summary: An alternate retelling to the show. What if Masaya was the protagonist and Misaki the heroine?
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I felt the show could have been better, so I figured I would do a rewrite to it. Do expect the comedy to be severely toned down though, as I felt that was one of the shows issues where they wasted so much time on comedy that it took away from more things they could have been doing. I'll be replacing Asuka with Masaya as the protagonist in this rewrite, because I felt he should have been the protagonist in the show, not Asuka. The Rika undressing scene, saving that for episode 2, and giving Rika a proper introduction in episode 2, unlike the anime's poor way of introducing her with an instant fanservice scene.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.

Episode 1 Rewrite:

Masaya was very gifted in FC, impressing his peers with his skills. He even won a tournament. But like a storm covering the bright sun, he at one point showed cold feet and lost. Subsequent events led to his adandoning the sport.

Time-Skip years later:

Masaya currently attends a place called Kunahama school. Right now, he just came out of his house and walked alone.

'Every day is the same,' Masaya thought to himself. 'I take classes, hear about a sport I don't want to be in, and hang out with some friends. Boring...will anything ever change? Well I can't say I'm totally bored, but I just feel...almost like I just go through the motions. To make matters worse, I still have that dream with all of my past events that lead me to quit. Will I ever be freed from those painful memories?'

And this isn't the first time such thoughts have drifted in his mind. He has had these thoughts many times, yet still never getting the answers he wants.

"Yo Masaya!" a female's voice rung out casually, walking up to him.

"Huh, oh Misaki," Masaya said, then sighed. "You want to fly, right?"

"Yep!" Misaki said with a slightly lazy voice before letting out a yawn.

'I've grown used to this,' Masaya thought to himself. 'Normally I try to avoid flying to school, but I give up with how persistent she is. Doesn't mean I like doing it.'

So they went to a flight pad, pads used to fly from that point to the next destination that has a flight pad. Getting on one, they took off on their Grave-Shoes.

"Still not content, I wanted more udon!" Misaki groaned: It was her favorite food.

'Your obsession with that food is as bad as 'that girl's' obsession with you,' Masaya thought, sweatdropping. 'The irony is they kind of are alike in that regard.'

The two flew to school as the chirping of birds can be heard, soaring across the skys. Thanks to the Grav-Shoe technology, people could fly around freely with no worries of getting hurt. Humans had Jetpacks long before these shoes, but the Grav-Shoes don't run out of fuel thanks to this new advanced technology of anti-particles built into them. And it's much more comfortable wearing simple yet advanced shoes that do the same thing a Jetpack would, but less casualties.

After getting to school, Masaya and Misaki walked to the gates after landing on a flight pad. They were somewhat still early, so they didn't need to run to class. After walking in, a yellow haired girl with two ponytails came running up and clinged to Misaki.

"Morniiiing!" the girl said dramatically with an adored expression.

This girl went by the name of Mashiro. She has a strong obsession with Misaki to the point Misaki is put off by it and tends to get annoyed by it, or shoe Mashiro out of her space. Masaya himself just finds her silly, yet she was fun to talk to.

"And you too," Mashiro said, as if she had almost forgot Masaya.

"Morning," Masaya said politely.

Mashiro was generally never that bothered by Masaya being alone with Misaki. She knew the guy well enough to know he wasn't the type to try taking advantage of her senpai. While she wished he could be more sociable, when you peel off his somewhat indifferent attitude, he was a nice guy who cared about his friends. While she hanged out with Misaki more, Mashiro always made it her duty to hang out with him at times, as he was her friend too.

After this, they went to the classroom, and was met by Madoka.

"Morning," Madoka greeted them. "Say, we're having some repair work done on my brother's trailer club, so could one of you help me out later?"

"Not a chance," Misaki declined immediately.

"Same," Mashiro said, thus all eyes fall on Masaya.

"M-me!?" Masaya said, taken off guard. "Find someone else."

"Please, it would help having an extra hand to cover onii-chan's clumsiness!" Madoka begged him.

"...Fine," Masaya sighed.

"Good boy," Mashiro said teasingly, petting his head with a grin, while he made a groaning sound.

"Right," Misaki also partly grinned in amusement.

Masaya said nothing, enduring all of this. "Quiet down all of you!" Aoi's voice rung in, walking in. "Class was going to start a minute sooner, but a new student arrived late, so I tried to delay as long as possible. That said, I have our new student."

A pink haired girl lively waltzed in, placing herself next to Aoi. She had a wing piece on one side of her hair.

'Hello everyone!" she started, very friendly-like. "My name is Kurashina Asuka, pleased to meet you all!"

She went into a ramble, but Aoi stopped it by telling her to pick a seat. So she went over and sat in a seat behind Misaki. Once lunch break came around, Masaya left to go eat by himself like he had a habit of doing. Mashiro came over to the classroom, then left with Misaki and Madoka after a few minutes.

Getting outside, they saw Asuka sitting by herself eating. "She's certainly very happy for someone who just entered our school and has no friends here," Madoka pointed out in surprise. Misaki said nothing as she stared at Asuka. "Well let's introduce ourselves to her."

So they walked up to her, causing her to face them. "You guys are...?" Asuka asked with a few blinks.

"Ah forgive me!" Madoka apologized. "My name is Madoka."

"I'm Mashiro," Mashiro introduced herself.

"Misaki, Tobisawa Misaki," Misaki said. "And if I recall, you're Kurashina, right?"

"Yes!" Asuka said with a friendly face.

"Want to eat together?" Madoka asked.

"Mmm, it's no problem," Asuka welcomed. As they chatted, Asuka asked something lingering on her mind. "How are you guys flying to school?"

"Eh?" Madoka asked. "You don't know?"

"Huh? About what?" Asuka tilted her head.

"Grav-Shoes," Mashiro stated.

"Hmm...no I don't know," Asuka said, garnering incredulous looks from the other three girls.

"Wait right here," Misaki said, getting up.

"Where are you going?" Mashiro asked.

"To get Masaya, he's a lot better at explaining this than us," Misaki stated before leaving.

"Masaya? Is he one of your friends," Asuka asked.

"Yeah," Mashiro said, then muttered. "If only he would hang out with us more though."

A bit later, Misaki found him eating in a spot that had no people around on the other side of the building.

"You want me to explain what Grav-Shoes are to that new student?" Masaya asked.

"Yeah, she's really curious, and you're better explaining this than we are," Misaki said.

"I see, alright," Masaya said, getting up and following her back to the group. Getting back, he took notice of Asuka. "Nice to meet you, I'm Masaya, Hinata Masaya. Kurashina was it? You wanted the Grav-Shoe concept explained?"

"Mmm," Asuka said, an anticipated look now on her face. So he gave a detailed explanation, and she took it all in. When done, she was hyper excited. "Awesome, I want to try one!"

"Wait till after school," Masaya said. "The girls can get you a free pair. If that's all I was called here for, I'll be leaving." So he walked away. 'Don't want to delve any farther into this, lest I get caught up in this sport.'

"Thank you very much!" Asuka yelled at him as he walked off, and he in turn put a hand up next to his head to say she was welcome.

"And here I was thinking he might get a little more sociable," Mashiro groaned.

Misaki stared at him just before her attention was diverted. "He's going to the trailer to clean it up," Madoka said. "Truthfully, we still don't have enough club members for the FC club to be recognized and started."

"I'll join then," Asuka offered, if it would help Madoka out: The girl was kind enough to introduce and chat with her, so the least she could do is help her out.

"EH!?" the other three yelled in shock.

"Are you crazy, you don't know the first thing about playing FC!" Mashiro pointed out in astonishment.

"Ahee," Asuka rubbed her head with a hand in embarrassment.

'Man, what a carefree girl,' Misaki smiled a bit.

Masaya hinted at FC a bit in the conversation, but he quickly steered away from it and just explained the Grav-Shoes. Hence Asuka still had no grasp on what FC actually was.

Masaya on the other hand was in the trailer, cleaning with Shion. 'Why am I the one even doing this?' Masaya wondered in thought.

"This is depressing, isn't it?" Shion asked him with a sad-like smile. "I'm the only one still in this club, and no one else wants to join. I really wanted to enter this year's tournaments, but..."

"It's too early to give up, there's still time," Masaya said. "Of course whoever joins should at least be okay. A team with no experience at the last second before the tournament would be a disaster."

"Strange, you sound as if you've played FC before," Shion said thoughtfully. "I've just got this feeling based on what you're saying."

"Don't read too into it, I'm not experienced," Masaya said in a voice indicating he wanted the subject to drop. "Anyway, you'll get members soon, just hang in there. Don't forget Madoka is trying to help you out."

"You're right!" Shion flew into his overly dramatic demeanor now. "I can't let my spirit give up so easily!"

Masaya smiled a bit at his fast recovery, then focused on his job, cleaning the floor and stacking up some boxes. As he did, he wondered what Asuka was doing right now. She seemed so thrilled about the Grav-Shoes after all. No doubt she's probably hanging out with his friends.

Later on as the sun started to sit, Asuka was with the girls, but walking by the beach. Just then, they spotted a debate between Shion and a blond haired girl with a cocky look. Hearing what was going to happen due to Shion losing, Asuka impulsively came forward and declared to challenge Satou.

"Oh? Challenging me with such guts must mean you're very confident," Satou said, interested. "How long have you played?"

"Never!" Asuka said dead serious.

"Wha, you've never played FC!?" Satou asked in bafflement, and Asuka nodded.

"Yes, so please teach me FC!" Asuka pleaded.

Satou sighed. This wouldn't even be a match if Asuka didn't know what the game was and how to play it.

"Very well," Satou said after taking out a portable chalkboard, and then started drawing as she talked. "FC, short for Flying Circus, is a sport where you score points on buoys. However, there is more to it then that. As you race each other to buoys, you can either take a shortcut to the next buoy, or try to outrun that person to the current buoy instead. Next, let's talk about Dogfighting. Dogfights can be started at any point. One or both players engage each other with their palms to knock the other off balance. In this window of opportunity, you have a chance to touch their back. Doing this gives you a point, and there is no limit to how many times you can hit them there for points. Next, each match has a time limit where the match is finished after 10 minutes, but don't mind that. Matches usually finish within the 10 minutes anyway. Are you following so far?" Asuka nodded loyally, prompting Satou to continue. "Next, Dogfights are not simply charge and hit. You can do fancy maneuver and turns to get them off guard for a point, or even use it to fake them out and head to the buoy before they do. Finally there is the option of trying to escape dogfights. Although Dogfighting is always an option, that doesn't mean you should take the bait or try to. It's all up to you what you do at any point. Well, that about sums it up."

"For a girl who sounds arrogantly proud, she knows her stuff," Mashiro muttered.

"I heard that!" Satou eyed Mashiro who yelped and hid near Misaki in fear.

"Y-yes, I understand!" Asuka said, though a bit nervous.

"Don't worry," Satou said with a finger to the air. "I'll make this easy. You only have to score a single point to be considered the winner."

"Really!?" Asuka asked in surprise.

"Yeah...but I, Satouin, intend to make sure you don't!" Satou said with confidence. "One of you three, coach her at once!"

"What's with that super commanding attitude?" Mashiro muttered, having come out from behind Misaki.

"Can't be helped, looks like I'll have to do it," Misaki sighed.

"You have Grav-Shoes, do you not?" Satou asked Asuka, who shook her head. "Hmm, yes wait here, I'll be back with a spare."

Masaya on the other hand was out on a last day jog. Later on, as he headed towards the area where the girls were, he became increasingly concerned. Asuka was playing in a match against Satou. He was well aware of how good she was. So as far as he was concerned, Asuka taking her on was akin to foolishness.

"You guys!" Masaya yelled coming into their view. "What is this!?"

"As you can see, a match," Misaki stated as if it was obvious.

Masaya looked up at Asuka's poor performance. Observing this, Masaya felt the need to want to help her out. He hesitated about this, but Misaki, handed him the earpiece while giving him an encouraging smile and nod.

"Why did you-" Masaya was going to protest, but Asuka's happy voice entered the earpiece in his hand.

"Hinata-san!" Asuka sounded happy. "I'll be in your care!"

"Y-yeah!" Masaya said. 'Well...guess one time won't hurt. Besides, Kurashina really seems to need the help.'

Once he fully put the earpiece on, Mashiro eyed Misaki with annoyance. "Why did you hand it to him?" she asked. "You know better than that! That guy doesn't like to pl-"

"Listen up Kurashina!" Masaya's determined voice came in right after that. "Follow my orders carefully!"

"...Wow," Madoka said, astonished. "He's, so-"

"Pumped up," Mashiro blinked in amazement. "What happened?"

Misaki smiled at him as he gave orders to Asuka.

Finally, to even Masaya's surprise, Asuka did an Air Kick Turn, touching Satou's back and winning as a result. Shion demanded to know her name in wonderment, and she stated it was Kurashina Asuka.

Episode 2 Rewrite:

Shion, who is Madoka's brother, had just gone into one of his overdramatic speeches due to the fact Asuka beat Satou just now. Masaya had taken over to coach Asuka in the match, and Shion was very happy at how well he seemed to perform as the coach. To his shock, the gang ran away in the midst of his speech as it started shifting to his own happiness.

"...But I wasn't finished," Shion said, let down.

Back with the others, who started walking now that they were out of his range.

"Thank you!" Asuka said politely to Masaya.

"Mmm," Masaya said. 'Why did I even jump in and help? It wasn't something I had to do. It was just a match with nothing at stake.'

Masaya looked in deep thought while Misaki and Mashiro looked at him with curiosity. Following this, they went to a food shop to eat. Masaya of course wasn't that interested in their conversations, but he still added his two cents occasionally. After that everyone went home and it grew dark. Masaya sat on his bed with a hand to his cheek, wondering why he jumped in at all. This stayed on his mind all night.

The next day, Masaya was heading to school on his own this time. Sometimes he went with Misaki and Mashiro, but today he was just by himself. This time, he avoided flying to school, as he dislikes using his Grav-Shoes in general. He only did it before because Misaki asked him to. He sighed as he walked, feeling bored. Getting to school, he went to and sat in his respective seat in class. Madoka then came over, excited about the fact Asuka scored against Satou. Masaya watched on with little care. Asuka then faced him.

"I look forward to your care!" Asuka said formerly.

"Huh?" Masaya blinked.

"We're joining Madoka-chan's brother's club!" Asuka said excitedly. "That's why-"

"Right, with you coaching her-" Madoka started with a finger pointed up.

"I refuse!" Masaya suddenly snapped, making her lower it.

"Eh?" Madoka asked. "Why?"

"With you guys joining the FC club, I'm no longer needed for this," Masaya argued.

Asuka stared at him with curiosity. Why was he hesitant about this?

Misaki eyed him, saying nothing. In truth, she knew he once played FC, but he's never told her why it was he quit and is hesitant to play. However, when she asked, he seemed more closed up, so she felt it best not to pry.

Later after lunch break started, Asuka stopped him before he left to eat alone.

"Please wait! During that last match," Asuka said, recalling. "You looked like you had great experience, just like Madoka-chan's brother said. But, why is it you don't want to keep coaching me?"

"I told you already-" Masaya started, but Asuka felt hurt.

"That's a lie!" Asuka slightly raised her voice. "Because...even that guy noticed your experience. Do, do you not like me?"

"Wrong," Masaya started, now feeling a bit bad. "I have my own reasons why I don't want to. I'd...rather not talk about it."

"I see," Asuka said understandingly. "Well if you ever change your mind."

With those friendly words and expression, she went back to the others. After a few moments of staring, Masaya left. Going outside and sitting at a slightly high up place, he looked at the sky.

Flashback:

"Sensei, sensei!" a small kid Masaya yelled, running up to Aoi.

Aoi blinked. "If memory serves, you're Masaya aren't you?" she asked, hearing of his reputation in the school.

"Yes!" Masaya said. "Please, will you teach me your moves?"

End of flashback.

Snapping back to reality, he noticed the girls walking in the hall from his view outside. Looking at Asuka, he sighed.

"I just can't do it," Masaya said gently with a smile. "Those days are long over."

He ate by himself, relaxing as the wind blew his hair. Afterwards, school resumed. Once school ended, the girls went to the trailer, and Misaki asked Asuka for a match, but since Asuka returned the ones Satou lent her for the match yesterday, she couldn't play. Furthermore, she seemed in thought at the moment.

"Earth to Kurashina," Misaki said, waving a hand before her.

"Eh? Oh sorry," Asuka said.

Misaki quickly deduced she was thinking about Masaya. "Come with me," she told Madoka.

Out of the trailer, and now alone, Madoka asked. "So what's going on?" she asked.

"Hmm, if I was to guess, I think she wants Masaya to join the club," Misaki deduced. "And him not here makes her not as happy."

"Really?" Madoka asked. "But he didn't seem very positive about the idea of joining."

"Yeah," Misaki said. 'But...that guy.'

Thinking back to yesterday and how much he was beaming with life when he coached Asuka, made her happy. It was unlike him to be so lively like that. She wanted to see more of that Masaya. He was her friend, and she didn't want him to just be left out of such a fun club. The girls then started practicing, doing rather poor, minus Asuka who could only watch.

Later, once it grew dark, Masaya was at his house, when a knock to the door got his attention. Opening it, he was greeted by a nervous looking girl with purple hair. She was holding a bucket of food.

"H-hello!" the girl greeted. "I'm Ichinose Rika, your new next door neighbor."

"Y-yeah, I'm Masaya, good to meet you," he said politely, and then pointed at the bowel. "But what's with this food?"

"I was giving it to you for courtesy," Rika said nervously, but starting to relax. 'Oh good, it looks like my neighbors won't be scary.'

"In that case, thank you," Masaya said with a sweat drop.

After she left, he plopped in his bed and got a good night's rest.

Meanwhile, Misaki was still up in her bed.

'How should I try to get him to join?' Misaki thought. 'Asking won't work...'

Just then an idea crossed her mind. It was a setup, but maybe it could work at some point. The next morning, Misaki talked with Madoka on the phone about her plan, to which Madoka was on board.

Masaya got up and left, but not before seeing Rika undressing by accident due to her curtains not being shut. Quickly turning and running with a red face, he didn't look back.

'Now she probably thinks I'm a pervert!' Masaya thought.

It was Saturday, so they had no school. He planned to simply relax at home, but was texted by Misaki, who needed him for something. Getting to the four girls, he spoke. "You called me for something?" Masaya asked.

"We need to pick out a pair of Grav-Shoes for Asuka," Misaki said.

"Judging by her movements yesterday, she probably would fit the all-rounder," Masaya said with a hand to his chin in thought.

"Alright, then let's go," Madoka said.

"I'll go with you guys," Masaya offered.

"Why?" Madoka asked. "We can find any set of all-rounder Grav-Shoes."

"There's a specific one I have in mind for Kurashina," Masaya said.

"Oh," Mashiro grinned at him.

"Aren't you a gentlemen," Madoka too grinned at him.

Misaki had no reaction, but if one looked at her eyes, she wasn't exactly amused.

"What are you two going on about?" Masaya asked, then ignored them. "Anyway, there's a specific set I want to get you."

"I got it," Asuka said, trusting in his judgment.

Getting to the place, they were greeted by a shy girl, who welcomed them in the place. After getting inside, they were greeted by the man in charge by the name of Hayato.

"You, it's not like you to come in here, Masaya," Hayato said, perplexed.

"I'm just here to help out a friend," Masaya said.

"Really?" Hayato asked him.

"The two of you know each other?" Mashiro asked.

"Yeah, I was on the same team as him-" Hayato started.

"Enough!" Masaya cut him off mid sentence in a raised voice, and changed the subject immediately. "Getting back on topic, do you still have that 'set'?"

"I see, you're still..." Hayato said in a lower considerant voice. Hayato could see Masaya still to this day didn't want to return to FC. He then looked through some boxes, and finally found one. "Is this it?"

"Yes," Masaya said, taking the box and handing it to Asuka. "These All-Rounder Grav-Shoes are a special one that I recommend."

"Thank you!" Asuka said, thrilled to have her own Grav-Shoes.

Masaya in turn smiled at the girl. 'She really is like how I was starting out,' he thought.

After getting to the trailer, Asuka learned to turn the Grav-Shoes on. Just being able to fly through the air made Asuka let out so much excitement. Masaya then left on his own, but Misaki followed him.

"Thanks for helping her out," Misaki said, thankful for his generosity as they walked.

"No problem," Masaya said. "I'm glad to see she's having so much fun."

"Me too," Misaki said, and then asked with a considerate look. "Wasn't your heart on fire when you took over and coached her? The excitement that came from the match?"

"Don't know what you mean," Masaya said in denial, so Misaki dropped it with a "It's fine".

Later next morning, Mashiro went and got Misaki, who was only half awake.

"Senpai is always adorable when she's drowsy!" Mashiro praised while helping her get dressed. "You can't even get yourself properly dressed because of your low suger in the mornings. But that's what one of the many things that makes you cute. Alright, we're off!"

"Have a good day!" Misaki's Grandmother waved as the two ran out.

On their way to school, they ran into Asuka, who was flying poorly.

"...What's with that stance?" Mashiro asked, sweat dropping.

"Ah, well it's the only way I can stay balanced," Asuka said.

Misaki watched her in silence while Mashiro had more to say. "Geez, I guess what happened against Satou was just a fluke," Mashiro said.

Misaki had mixed feelings on that. While it did seem true, she also thought Asuka really did have potential. In fact her sole reason for joining was because she was intrigued by Asuka. It was a bit regrettable though that perhaps Asuka really was just average.

Getting to school, they all went and took their seats.

"What?" Masaya asked, noticing Misaki's gaze on him.

"Nothing," Misaki said non-caringly and looked out the window.

Masaya blinked, curious what that was about, but let it go.

After school, the girls practiced up in the air. Masaya had no idea why he came over to the ocean just to watch, but he did.

"In need of practice aren't they?" Aoi chuckled at their inflexibility.

"Yeah, they need to first get used to playing in general, improve their performance," Masaya said as he watched.

"Perhaps you should tell them that," Aoi subtly snuck in, as she herself didn't feel fit to coach them.

"I'm just an outsider," Masaya said and then left, but Misaki didn't miss that in her training.

As the day growed darker, Masaya was doing some jogging before heading home, and stopped at the beach noticing Asuka train in the air to see how she and the others were doing.

Flashback:

"Alright!" the kid Masaya yelled, starting to keep up with Aoi's patterns in the air.

"Heh, I see you really are a prodigy like the rumors say," Aoi said as they flew in the air together. "Let's sail even further than this!"

"Yes, Sensei!" Masaya yelled with happiness.

End of flashback.

Masaya didn't know it, but he was smiling as he thought of the past. He then kept running, leaving them be. Misaki had been observing him since he stopped, and noticed what looked like sadness in his eyes, contradicting the smile that was on his face.

The next day, Misaki finally put the plan she thought up in motion after school. Asking Asuka if she'd like to practice with her, Asuka agreed. Misaki filled Aoi secretly in on the plan, to which Aoi was interested and agreed to help. They went to a spot at the beach Masaya often seems to jog past, and hoped he would show up by chance. Calling him to the place and then asking him to coach Asuka is too obvious a setup he'd see through, so him showing up on his own seemed more wise to them.

Masaya eventually showed up as he jogged, and stopped on seeing them. At the moment they were about to do another practice match, but hadn't flown in the air just yet. Masaya was about to keep jogging away, but Aoi stopped him.

"Wait, can I ask you a favor?" Aoi asked him, giving Misaki a quick subtle glance to signal her.

"A favor?" Masaya asked and then looked on as Misaki had Shion agree to coach her.

"Don't you think there is someone more fitting than me who should coach Kurashina for this match?" Aoi asked him. After a few moments, Masaya sighed in frustration, turned around and went over to near the water. "Apologies for the sudden push."

"This is the last time I'm doing this!" Masaya said in annoyance while his eyes twitched and he put on the earpiece used for communicating to his teammate with. 'I really don't want to do this...but I guess one more time.'

Hearing Masaya behind her, she faced him. "Coach!" she said in an even better mood. "Once again, I'm in your care!"

"Y-yeah!" Masaya stuttered. 'Well, here we go.'

Once Misaki and Asuka were signaled, they went up in the air to the starting point with their FC clothes and Grav-Shoes. They then took off at Shion's signal.

"Don't pursue her!" Masaya warned Asuka. 'Asuka is still a beginner, so it should be assumed she won't fair too well in a Dogfight with Misaki. She was lucky to score against Satou at all. But we can't count on that Air Kick Turn happening again.'

"Yes!" she answered and went to the other buoy via shortcut, and waited for Misaki.

"It's like Tobisawa said, he's more livid," Madoka noted, watching the usual unmotivated guy become more determined.

Aoi chuckled. "That part of him never changes when it comes to this," she said. 'His passion for FC.'

From here on, Asuka tried her best, but Misaki scored point after point. Asuka started panting.

"Don't push yourself!" Masaya yelled.

"One point," Asuka said, getting his attention. "Just one point!"

Masaya stared with amazement how she could keep going in this situation.

Asuka readied herself, and to their surprise, was successful and knocked Misaki off balance. But just before Asuka could touch her back for a point like she had wanted, time was up. To Masaya's surprise, he felt hot, and had this feeling of frustration.

"I was no good," Asuka said, flying down.

"Don't let it get you too down," Masaya started.

"Of course I'm down!" Asuka said in frustration. "That's why...please coach, please continue to teach me!"

"Eh!?" Masaya exclaimed, completely caught off guard. "I..."

"You're a man, aren't you?" Mashiro asked. "If so you can't refuse an innocent girl's request."

"Don't talk like you know me!" Masaya snapped at her, whom was taken aback by his anger. "Look, I just can't do it, okay?"

"Then how about until the tournament coming up?" Madoka asked, taking a less forceful approach.

Masaya's face sweated, evident he was struggling as to what to do. Finally, Misaki stepped forward a bit.

"I-" he started, but Misaki spoke.

"How about just giving it a try?" Misaki asked gently. "If you still aren't satisfied with it by the tournament, you can quit. What do you say, Masaya? Please?"

As he looked at Misaki, he looked at Asuka, who stared at him with pleading eyes. "Alright, I'll give it a try," Masaya relented.

"Yessssss!" Shion yelled, putting him in a headlock.

"Thank you, thank you very much!" Asuka repeatedly bowed in lightning speed while repeating the same words.

"I was worried there for a second, but all's well that ends well," Madoka said, happy.

"Mmm..." Misaki muttered, staring at Masaya with a tender smile.

Mashiro noticed this and blinked a few times, curious.

And so the day ends on a very positive note, with Masaya becoming the team's coach.

Aoi smiled at Misaki, grateful for her help and then looked at Masaya. 'This is just the beginning into his journey back to FC,' she thought.

A/N: I had a major issue with Asuka having flight school Grav-Shoes yet she didn't even know they could fly or people flew to school with them. So I made it make more sense and reasonable by having her not have them, and just walked to school for now until episode 2 rewrite. Satou should have been the one teaching Asuka about how you play FC instead of Misaki and Mashiro. Misaki hasn't even been playing FC for who knows how long, and Mashiro gave no hint of having FC experience. So all things considered, it would have been a lot better had Satou been the one explaining how you play to Asuka. I don't know if Hayato was on Masaya's team or not in the anime, but I thought it would be a nice touch regardless. I'll be blunt, I HATE episode 2 of the show, so I tried to fix it. Episode 1 had some things that bugged me, but nowhere on the scale of episode 2 bad. Chapter 2 will be multiple episode rewrites, because I am leaving in a number of stuff, hence there's no need for super short chapters. Episodes 3-6 will be in one chapter as such. Most of the left in scenes I will just summarize.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.

Episode 3 rewrite:

Right now, the group was at Takafuji's FC training area.

Approaching, Satou took note of Masaya.

"It's you!" Satou said with interest. "You're the one who coached Kurashina."

"Yeah," Masaya said.

"As soon as you joined in to coach her, she did a lot better," Satou said. "You must be pretty good to get an amature to actually do that well against me."

"I appreciate your words," Masaya said in a polite manner.

"And don't think this is over Kurashina!" Satou pointed at her. "Next time, you won't be so lucky!"

"I look forward to it!" Asuka said excitedly while everyone sweat dropped.

"...She wasn't complimenting you just now you know," Misaki pointed out.

Practice then started. Masaya and Satou were in charge, commanding and giving advice for those who practiced or were about to practice. When Masaya became a coach for his team, Aoi asked for cooperative training between Takafuji's FC practice and Kunahama's. Finally, Ichinose stepped forward.

"Um..." Masaya started, trying to make up with her, but Ichinose went forward, ignoring him.

Later on as it got dark, the girls were in the bath. They were shocked at Ichinose revealing Masaya saw her changing. The topic quickly shifted to Shindou. Misaki was curious about him. While that was going on, Masaya was at the sea by himself.

'Why did I go and agree to this?' Masaya asked in his head, recalling yesterday when he became an FC coach. 'But...that girl, Asuka, seemed so determined to want me to stay. And then there's Misaki, why did she want me to join? The two of us have been close friends as long as I can remember. She knows I don't really like to associate myself with FC. Yet why...'

"You seem to be quite troubled," a person's voice rung, walking over to him. "And that graph, you're running simulations?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Masaya asked.

The guy introduced himself as Shindou, the president of Takafuji Academy's FC Team. Masaya likewise introduced himself. After a brief talk, Shindou asked Masaya something.

"Why the conflicting face when I got here?" Shindou asked, curious. "It seemed you were in deep thought."

"That's..." Masaya trailed off.

"You don't need to tell me if you don't want to," Shindou said. "However, why are you suddenly coaching? One day you suddenly just quit FC without saying why. Well whatever the reason, it's in the past: you're here right now playing-"

"Wrong," Masaya said in a more serious voice. "I only agreed to be their coach because they were persistent towards me with it. But that girl reminds me a lot of myself back then."

"'That girl', could it be the one who scored against Satou-kun?" Shindou asked with interest.

"That's right," Masaya said. "But how did you know?"

"It's been the talk of the town ever since Satou-kun lost to her," Shindou said before walking away. "I look forward to what kind of spectacle your team brings."

Masaya looked back at the graph.

'I'm not sure we have what it takes to compete with him,' he thought, troubled.

The next day, the group put on their new FC clothes they would use from now on. Following a comment from Madoka about Misaki's clothing, Masaya drew their attention to the chart displaying who would face who. After some comments, Shindou walked in, but his real interest was in Asuka. He then expressed interest in how she was able to score a point against Satou despite just starting off in FC and leaves. Misaki was annoyed at being ignored given she was the best player on the team, yet his attention was on Asuka.

Everyone then made their way to the FC practice area. Once there, in the first match, Asuka managed to score a point against Rika with an Air Kick Turn, to everyone elses joy and surprise. Mashiro did poorly against Satou, which ended the match very quickly. Now it was Misaki vs Shindou.

"Be on your toes Misaki," Masaya said in a warning tone next to her.

"He's just full of himself!" Misaki said, annoyed about Shindou. "Champion my foot, I'll show him!"

"Calm down, don't let your emotions get the better of you!" Masaya warned her. "If you let your emotions consume you, it will affect your overall playing."

"I got it," Misaki, calming down.

"Good," Masaya said. "Now go out there and have a good game."

Misaki looked at Masaya with a slight grin. "What is it?" Masaya asked.

"Nothing," Misaki said carefreely and flew up, with her smile still on her face.

After flying up, and a brief talk with Shindou, the two started to play. Shindou toyed with her the entire match. As Shindou's provocations finally pushed Misaki to the point of ignoring Masaya, Asuka and Mashiro came to his aid by offering Udon if she listens. Misaki agreed and did as Masaya said. After the match, Masaya left for some sightseeing to refresh himself from all that. As he did, Rika followed and called out to him.

"Um..." Rika said, timidly walking up to him with clasped hands.

Masaya twitched, becoming nervous. It had been awkward between them after the incident of seeing her undressing by accident. "W-what do you need?" he stuttered.

"Well..." Rika started. "F-forgive me for thinking bad of you! Having observed you today, I can see you're not that kind of person."

"I should apologize too, for not being more careful," he said, bowing his head.

The two stared at each other, still feeling awkward about what happened.

"A-anyway, it was a surprise that Tobisawa was able to keep with Shindou," Rika said, now feeling more comfortable with him with the issue resolved and out of the way.

"Yeah, but she's going to have to improve still," Masaya said, looking out at the sunset. "And work on a few things. I have to say, it was pretty impressive Asuka doing an Air Kick Turn so soon again though."

"Yes, I had no idea she was even able to do it again," Rika said. "I thought it was just beginners luck."

"So did I, but it seems like she might have a knack for FC," Masaya noted.

As the two walked alone back to the others, Shindou had finished saying something to Misaki, and then noticed Masaya and Rika.

"It was nice having practice with you all," Shindou said, before eying Masaya. "I look forward to seeing your team's progression at the upcoming tournament."

Rika then left with Shindou and Satou. While the others flew off, Mashiro jabbed at Masaya verbally.

"What were you doing alone with Ichinose, lecherous perv?" Mashiro accused in annoyance.

"Nothing, we just talked and delt with our little accident," Masaya said. "So you can stop stereotyping me now."

"That's good that you two worked out the problem," Madoka said.

Mashiro accepted that. If they had worked out their problem and Rika forgave him, then there was no need to hold it against him anymore.

Misaki then called for more practice, to which Masaya and Asuka agreed while Mashiro groaned.

Episode 4 rewrite:

Right now, Misaki and Asuka were in the gym doing exercise, with Masaya observing and Madoka helping Shion. Immediately, the subject of tests came up, and Misaki was eager to get Masaya's praise.

"Say Masaya, want to hear my scores?" Misaki asked in a flirtatious tone.

"No, I bet yours are perfect anyway," Masaya said, indifferent. 'Misaki is pretty good in all fields. There's not one test area she fails at.'

Although it wasn't shown on her face, Misaki inwardly pouted. He always did this when she attempted to flirt with him, indifferent. Just once she'd like him to flirt back and praise her on top of it. He and Misaki had been close friends for a long time, and Misaki was very fond of him, hence she had a tendency of occasionally trying to get his praise and affection.

After this, Mashiro came in, finished from her tests, and Minori showed up with a mic. After some brief talk with Minori, Asuka did an impressive backflip, to everyone's amazement. Following this and a bit of talking, Madoka expressed the need to drop the polite surname use, to which they agreed.

"Not just that, but I'd like the team to bond more during and out of practice," Madoka said, and then eyed Masaya, who sweat dropped and twitched. "That includes you."

"I don't know what you're-" Masaya started nervously.

"You're always doing nothing but coaching with us," Madoka explained. "You're part of the team you know, so you should bond and interact with everyone too."

Masaya looked at Asuka, who had a resolute "I agree" look on her face, and then at Misaki who had a smile of agreement, and then Mashiro who had an indifferent look, but enough to know she also agreed with Madoka.

"I got it," Masaya sighed in defeat.

"Then it's settled!" Madoka said, happy he was on board.

Everyone went out to practice after this, but Mashiro was unable to do good at all against Asuka. Sitting out and watching how Asuka is getting good enough to keep up with Misaki, that made Mashiro feel depressed at her own lack of skill in comparison. The girls then went in the trailer and got undressed. Misaki noticed though that Mashiro was quiet and had a sad look.

"You feeling okay?" Misaki asked with concern, but Mashiro said nothing, which made Misaki worry more.

Going home, Mashiro layed in her bed, depressed. Even using her toy figure didn't make her feel any better.

'What can I do?' Mashiro thought.

Even her imaginations served to only bring her down. With a burst of emotion, she ran out of the house and attempted to practice alone, with horrible results. Finally, she bumped into Rika.

"Ah, you are-" Rika started.

"Ichinose!" Mashiro said in shock.

"What are you doing flying around here?" Rika asked.

Mashiro lowered her head, then they went somewhere to sit down. "I'm not doing so well in practice," she started. "Asuka-senpai and Misaki-senpai on the other hand progress so smoothly. I wish the same could be said for me."

"Do you have an idea of the problem?" Rika asked.

"Mmm, I suck as a Dogfighter, always losing my balance," Mashiro said sadly.

"And have you told your coach about this?" Rika asked, but Mashiro shook her head. "Why not? He is your coach, and you have a responsibility as an FC player to bring problems up to him. As a coach, he is supposed to teach you and help."

"I don't want to be a hindrance to him anymore," Mashiro started.

"No way, he doesn't think of you like that," Rika assured. "I've only seen him for a bit, but I know he cares about you all. You should tell him about your problem so he can figure out what to do about it."

Mashiro nodded and thanked her. The next day during lunch Mashiro came in the classroom.

"I need to talk to you," Mashiro said seriously.

Masaya and the girls seemed curious, but Masaya went with her. Getting outside in private, Masaya asked.

"So what's up?" Masaya asked.

"Well...I want to figure out why I'm not performing so well," Mashiro said sadly.

Masaya recalled yesterday her typical lame attempts as a Dogfighter. "Understood, try again after school so I can get a good idea of the issue," Masaya told her.

"Thank you!" Mashiro said, smiling at him.

So after school, the gang went to the trailer. Once Asuka, Misaki and Mashiro got into their FC clothes, Mashiro put an earpiece in her ear.

"Alright, I want Asuka to practice with Misaki!" Masaya ordered.

"Yes!" they both said, flying up.

"Go ahead and try to act as if you're engaging someone," Masaya advised Mashiro, who flew up.

"Haaaa-ah!" Mashiro yelled, losing balance again and again as she tried.

Masaya glared, beginning to see the problem. "I think I've got it," he started. "Come down here."

Once she did, they went in the trailer. "What is it?" Mashiro asked on seeing him look through a box.

"Take this," Masaya said, handing her all rounders.

"But this is..." Mashiro started.

Back outside. "Naive Asuka!" Misaki said confidently, scoring on her.

"Misaki-chan is amazing!" Asuka said, not detoured.

Suddenly, Mashiro shot into the air, surprising them. "Okay, fly about and try to engage again!" Masaya told her through his head set.

"Yes!" Mashiro said, doing as he ordered.

"When did her movements get so..." Madoka started.

"Beautiful," Asuka said gently in the air while Misaki stared in awe.

'I can feel it, everything feels much less loose!' Mashiro thought excitedly, now going and touching buoys.

"Hinata, what's going on?" Madoka asked him.

"She switched to all rounders," he explained while smiling at Mashiro.

'I racked my brain all over before talking to Rika,' Mashiro thought as she touched another buoy. 'Now I realize it, what I was lacking. I was too focused on trying to imitate Misaki-senpai that I lost sight of myself as a player, and I didn't come to Masaya about my problem as a player. Thank you, Masaya, Rika, for helping me see this.'

Mashiro stayed an all rounder, realizing she had the knack for a speeder, but also the evasion speed needed in a dogfight. She would simply change her play style depending on the situation.

Playing against Asuka again, Mashiro managed to score a bit. Asuka still had more points than her, but Mashiro tricked her by exploiting her love of fish, and got another point. Flying down while Asuka was still in the air going nuts about the sight of a fish, Mashiro was greeted by Misaki.

"Good job, Mashiro," Misaki praised Mashiro, happy to see her not only feeling better, but that she improved.

Mashiro stared at her in awe for a moment, and then hugged Misaki, happy for the acknowledgement and praise from her admired senpai. Misaki smiled and returned the embrace while closing her eyes.

The group then took a break in the trailer while eating. Masaya stood up with folded arms though from the table.

"Things are moving along," Aoi said to Masaya.

"Yeah," Masaya said.

"Onii-chan, that's too much Soda-" Madoka stopped as Shion let out an outrageous roaring burp in her face.

The result, Madoka was soaked, and she nearly got blown out of her chair.

"...Oniiiii-chan!" Madoka yelled in a threatening voice and chased after him out of the trailer while everyone laughed at the sight.

"Wish the tournament would hurry up and get here," Misaki said.

"Nothing we can do about it, it's a month away," Masaya said. "The more you think about it, the longer the wait will seem."

"That means more and more practice together!" Asuka said, very cheerful.

"Geez, Asuka-senpai is always so..." Mashiro trailed off in a groan.

Aoi chuckled. "Kurashina always stays positive no matter what," she said.

"Try not to get depressed again," Misaki said with an uncaring look, while looking at Mashiro. "It makes me lose concentration wondering if you're okay or not."

"Ohhhh I knew senpai was worried!" Mashiro said, rubbing her cheek against Misaki. "It makes me feel, you know."

Mashiro grinned while Misaki stayed seated. Normally Misaki would push her away if she got the impression she was about to get out of hand like this, but she felt really glad to see her back to her normal self, so she allowed this.

"Yes, yes," Misaki said uncaringly with a hand to the girl's head, petting it like a owner would their cat, making hearts fly out of Mashiro's head.

Just then, Madoka came back in. "What happened to you?" Masaya asked as Madoka panted a lot.

"Stupid...onii-chan!" Madoka panted. "He's really fast when he's afraid!"

"Well I knew that," Mashiro said as if it was obvious. "When he gets excited, he can really run."

"Yes, it's awesome!" Asuka said in a cheerful voice while everyone sweat dropped.

"I-in any case, we have a month to prepare for the tournament," Masaya started. "So expect more and more training."

"Yes!" the girls said.

Aoi smiled, seeing Masaya interact with his team. Before he just hung with Misaki and Mashiro, but didn't really take part in much of the conversations despite he and Misaki having always been close friends. A fact Mashiro was at first bothered by, but she just went with it.

Later, Asuka was flying home, when she spotted a person with green eyes, white hair and Grav-Shoes leaving a green trail behind. Asuka stared in awe at how graceful she was moving.

The same girl who passed Asuka, headed back to an apartment far away from the islands. She entered and spotted a green haired girl.

"Oh Saki," she said as the girl walked towards her. "Back from a night flight?"

"Yes, Irina," Saki said with no emotion. "What were you doing?"

"Just thinking back to the past when Aoi played such beautiful FC," Irina said with a boastful face.

Episode 5 slight rewrite:

A month had passed since the previous events. Masaya and co were flying to the tournament.

"Finally it's time!" Misaki said, eager.

"I've got goosbumps!" Asuka said. "My first tournament!"

"Just don't fizzle out," Mashiro said with a sweat drop. "Masaya-senpai, are you entering-"

She quickly put a hand over her mouth. For a moment, she had forgetten that this was always something that got him uncomfortable.

"No," Masaya said, looking away from the others and saying no more.

"Sorry," Mashiro apologized, feeling bad.

While Mashiro had a look of guilt, Misaki stared at him with some worry, while the other girls looked at him with curiosity as to why he suddenly closed up. Aoi looked at him, fully knowing everything.

Once they got to the tournament, they wasted no time and made way to the brackets. After seeing who they would face, Asuka's opponent, known as Arika, showed up with her lady, giving Asuka a confident good luck and then left. Following this, Asuka noticed Saki, who appeared to be looking around for someone. But just as Asuka greeted her, Saki left.

The tournament then got under way. The 1st round Mashiro fought against Satou. Although she was good enough to score just a few points utilizing her skills as an all rounder, Satou then proceeded to go all out and defeat her with ease. Despite her loss, her friends clapped for her performance. The next match featured a very one-sided fight between Misaki and Rika, with Misaki easily beating her. As Shion got ready and took off to face Saki, Irina walked over to Masaya after noticing him.

"Um," Irina started.

"You are?" Masaya asked.

"Irina," she said calmly.

"Masaya, Hinata Masaya," he said politely.

'Hinata Masaya...that boy?' Irina thought.

"I've been wondering, what are those?" Masaya asked pointing at Saki's Grav-Shoes: She had yet to fly up.

"Avalon, Avalon Grav-Shoes," Irina stated. "We've been developing them, but they're finished now. It allows extremely sharp turns easier than typical Grav-Shoes."

"I see, impressive," Masaya said with a finger to his chin in thought. "Well in any case, best of luck to you guys."

"I wish you the same...Hinata Masaya," Irina stated in a knowing voice.

'What was that?' Masaya wondered, perplexed at how she sounded at him just now.

Shion lost, scoring only a single point.

The final round consisted of Asuka and Arika. Although a close one, Asuka won the match.

Episode 6 slight rewrite:

Asuka and Misaki were in a room, where Misaki brought up something of interest to Asuka.

"It seems Masaya was coached in FC by her," Misaki said about Aoi.

"Then that means coach plays FC-" Asuka stopped mid-sentence, recalling his behaviour before they arrived at this tournament. 'Coach.'

Misaki said nothing, but wanted to know like Asuka too. Just what is it that he's afraid of playing FC for? He certainly seemed like he knew more than them and had more experiance. Knowing he's played before further made Misaki curious even to this day. They then noticed Shindou talking with Aoi. At one point Asuka felt tired, but Misaki took care of it. Once Misaki competed against Shindou, though she lost, Misaki felt she did pretty good against him. But the harsh truth soon came upon her as she watched him face Asuka. It shocked her that Shindou held back so much against her, yet he was interested in facing Asuka with more strength. The fact Asuka was doing better against him than she did made Misaki's frustration rise. Despite putting up multiple Air Kick Turns against Shindou, he finally went all out and defeated her. While the other girls ran over to Asuka, Misaki stood in place, saying no words and remained in a state of shock.

A/N: Why couldn't they get Masaya more involved with his team as friends, or have Satou actually notice the fact when he started coaching Asuka, that she was doing better? They don't have to write them out as not giving a crap about him outside him being their coach. They're always drilling in our brains time after time the girls' interactions, but they won't do anything for Masaya, and it ticks me off (as I've said before). Also would it have killed the writers to show that Misaki actually cares for Mashiro? I get that Mashiro is mostly used for comic relief, but I didn't like the fact that Misaki didn't seem to care about her on the show or at least ask if she was okay when she felt down. We've seen that Mashiro cares enough to actually help her get dressed sometimes in the mornings, and Misaki is always treating Mashiro as if she's extra baggage. It makes Misaki kind of unlikable to a degree, and ungrateful. I've already been very clear how I feel about the Mashiro speeder thing a few times, and I'll say it again, she dogfighted way more even after this than actually be a speeder like we're supposed to believe (I'll say why in a few moments). And Rika shouldn't have been teaching and training Mashiro in basic play, because that's not her place to do. Mashiro does have the responsibility as an FC player club member to go to her coach about her problem, and it is Masaya's job to work with and help her with FC problems. In the show she just gets discouraged and calls it quits without even talking to him about the issue. This should have been development for her to understand she should be more responsible about going to her own coach about an issue, instead of what they pulled with Rika originally. And the show really did not fix Mashiro's problem, because often enough she plays like an all rounder, but is using Grav-Shoes meant for more speeder/dogfighter type of play. I thought episode 4 of the show was not good, and in fact was bad. It felt like they made her a speeder just to make her different from Asuka and Misaki, and in the process capped off her real potential. If I gave a score on the episode, it would be a 3 out of 10, and I'm being nice. On a more positive note, I plan to do much better with Saki and Irina later in than the show ever did. They aren't going to be the final boss this time, but I intend to do more with their character than the show did (especially Saki, she is in need of serious characterization).


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.

Episode 7 slight rewrite:

As Shindou prepared himself for the final match with Saki, Misaki and Mashiro grabbed a drink, with Misaki trying to convince herself she could have beat Shindou. When they got out, Mashiro ran forward towards Satou and Madoka, who were watching Asuka get showed with praise from a crowd. This was unsatisfying for Misaki, who was still annoyed at how much better Asuka did against Shindou. And it further frustrated her that she could do many airkick turns when Misaki can barely do one. As those emotions started increasing, Masaya walked next to her and stopped.

"That was a good effort Misaki," Masaya started encouragingly. "The way in which you took the dogfight was nice."

"Mmm," Misaki said, feeling discouraged, but Masaya put a hand on her shoulder.

"Keep trying, you'll beat him someday," Masaya said gently with his eyes closed. "Just because you lost doesn't mean you fared badly. Try and use this chance to reflect on how you may have been able to do better."

With those words, he walked off to the others while Misaki stared at him, feeling his sincerity before convincing herself she really did do better than she gave herself credit for. Following this, Shindou faced off against Saki in the tournament final round. Misaki was fully on Shindou's side, believing he would win this, but to her disbelief, he lost to Saki. To further Misaki's stress, Asuka had no problem with Saki's Birdcage and thought it was cool. This scared her even. After this, it grew dawn, and Misaki left, tired. Masaya spotted her leaving, and wondered why she left immediately.

The next day, the group took a break, but Misaki stayed at home. Asuka and Shion goofed off in the water, and then food was prepared back on land for everyone to eat. After a little casual talk, Shion announced to step down as the manager, so Madoka agreed to take over for him. But, once she announced for Masaya to stay as coach until the fall tournament is over, and he stutteringly agreed, Asuka remembered what Misaki said about him having once played FC.

"Guys, although practice might get tough as the fall tournament draws closer, always have fun flying," Masaya said.

Asuka stared at him, pondering if she should say anything. As the others agreed with Masaya, she accidently spilled out what she was thinking as her face concealed briefly.

"But what about you?" Asuka asked in a troubled voice.

"What do you mean?" Masaya asked, playing ignorant.

"You played before right?" Asuka asked.

Masaya twitched as he sweated. "Don't talk about the past," he said quietly, and then walked away. "I left that behind."

"But-" Madoka started somewhat pleadingly, but Mashiro put a hand to her shoulder, stopping her.

"Don't, this is the one thing he never wants to talk about," Mashiro said quietly.

"We're a team though," Madoka said. "And he finally came out of his shell ever since joining us in FC."

"Yes, but," Mashiro said, still sticking to what she said.

"...Coach," Asuka said with a sad look, truly wanting to know why he's hesitant about playing the sport.

Back with Misaki, she lazed around most of the day. The only thing that managed to lift her mood up is when she thought about Masaya's words. Each time she thought of something else, she would return to depression. She got a text from Mashiro during the night, but didn't bother to answer it due to how she was feeling.

The next day, Misaki went to Fukuru island for some food. However, she felt empty as she picked up stuff. There was no feeling of satisfaction. Eventually, she sat down at a table in the mall, and prepared to eat, when news of Shindou losing to Saki came on the TV. She really didn't want to hear about it, and the people near her frustrated her all the more with their praising of Saki. So going outside, her stress just increased with the rain. Really, could something go right just once so she could relax? Sitting down in order to wait for the rain to cool off, Shindou then walked in front of her and ended up doing so as well. The talk was a casual one at first, but then turned serious. Misaki despite hearing his reasonings, just couldn't find herself to agree.

The following morning, Masaya was at the trailer with Asuka, who was very hyped for more training. Mashiro shortly arrived, before everyone was shocked at learning Misaki quit the team. Asuka and Masaya though were the most deeply troubled over the matter.

Episode 8 rewrite:

School started, and Madoka, Mashiro and Asuka entered their classroom, and noticed Misaki in her seat baring her face in it.

"Senpai, what is this about?" Mashiro asked seriously, holding the withdrawal notice.

"What is what?" Misaki asked carefreely, head still buried.

"Misaki!" Madoka said, annoyed at her light attitude of this.

Before Asuka could speak, it was stated class was about to start.

"This isn't over!" Mashiro said before running out of the classroom, and passed Masaya.

Masaya grew worried as he walked in and noticed Misaki, but he wasn't sure what to say right now. He wanted to do something, but he didn't know what.

After class was over and lunch started, Misaki walked out while Asuka called out.

"Wait please!" Asuka pleaded, which made Misaki come to a stop. "Why!? Why did you quit?"

Misaki after a few moments gave an excuse, and then left while Asuka remained in place. She could tell Misaki wasn't saying everything, but there was nothing she could do.

Meanwhile, Masaya saw it all and walked next to Asuka.

"Coach," Asuka said in a sad voice.

His face was troubled with glazing eyes. '...Misaki,' Masaya thought as he watched her leave their sight.

After school, aside from Misaki, the gang went to the trailer for practice. Madoka, Asuka and Mashiro were discussing how to make the club activitys more fun for Misaki. Masaya finally grew tired of it.

"Leave her alone," he said as the others faced him. "Stop putting so much pressure on her."

Madoka consented after pondering his words, as did Asuka and Mashiro. While they tried to stay positive and believed she would come back, Masaya was in his own thoughts, worried about Misaki. The more he thought, the more depressed he felt. Aoi then walked over, and stated that Masaya should understand what Tobisawa feels, as he knows all too well what she's going through.

Masaya said nothing, but remained troubled in concern for his friend.

"Masaya-senpai," Mashiro said quietly, walking up to him. "Will she come back?"

He couldn't find any words to sooth her feelings, so he placed a hand on her head. While he didn't actually give her an answer, the gesture felt comforting to Mashiro and gave her a sense that he thought she may.

Later at night, Masaya was in his room and took out a photo of him and Aoi when he was younger. The picture depicted him in Grav-Shoes, flying alongside her.

Misaki on the other hand ran out of specific food, at her home, and decided to go to the mall downtown for more. Grabbing what she needed, she went out of the store, only to see Masaya in front of her walking towards her. The two at first made small talk, but Masaya then got to the subject of her quitting. Finding a place that they could talk alone, Masaya begun opening up to her about his past and why he quit FC.

"In the past, I was a promising young boy in FC," Masaya started. "Winning some Japan tournaments, I was having so much fun. But, one time I got chosen to represent the Japan championships, I got scared. I blamed myself for letting my team down. A bit later, I got challenged by a beginner boy, and lost. Consumed with despair, I ran, leaving my team."

"Masaya," Misaki said quietly, now seeing why he was afraid to take up the sport again as a whole, and she couldn't blame him.

"Can we go to your place?" Masaya asked, indicating he had more he wanted to talk to her about.

"Sure," Misaki said.

So they went back to her home. As they headed back, Misaki stole some glances at him with interest. He'd never opened up like that to her before. Sure they'd been close friends for quite some time, but she never expected he would come out and reveal why he wasn't too thrilled about being in FC. Masaya always avoided this subject, so it was a surprise he actually revealed it to her. Getting home, Misaki put the food bought down in the kitchen.

"Oh, Masaya-kun," her grandmother greeted him. "Here for a visit?"

"Yes," Masaya said in a polite voice.

"Between you and me, I think she could use some company," she whispered to him. "Lately that girl seems more reserved."

Masaya said nothing, but knew why.

"Shall we go up?" Misaki asked in a welcoming voice.

Masaya and Misaki then went to her room, and Misaki closed the door due to this evidently being personal stuff. She then gave him some tea, to which he accepted. They sat on the floor near a table. He then faced her and resumed.

"When I was a little kid, I admired Kagami-sensei," Masaya started saying. "All I wanted was her to teach me her moves. Of course, I then realized that simply learning them was not something I could do in a few days. I had to work for them, and they took much effort and practice to finally pull off. That combined with my skills as a prodigy, I was pretty confident in myself and believed I was the best FC player child around. But then..."

"You messed up because of nerves, and then lost to someone just starting out," Misaki finished in a gentle sympathetic voice.

"Yeah," Masaya said, recalling it all. "I thought I was great, but in reality, I had a long way to go. Instead of accepting and understanding this reality, I adandoned FC."

Misaki lowered her head, imagining how much he likely blames himself. "Masaya...-" she started, however, Masaya continued.

"But," he said, getting Misaki's attention. "I had a realization after all the time I spent with you guys since becoming your coach. You can't give up, no matter how shocking it may be to see that you have much room for improvement. We're not perfect, but it is because we're not perfect that we can always improve ourselves and fly higher than ever before. I finally understand, that I was blinded by my own feelings of powerlessness and lack of confidence."

Misaki's eyes blinked in realization: Everything he was saying, was exactly what she was going through and how she felt. She felt the same, powerless, not good enough, and was running away from her problems when she in fact can improve herself and fly even higher. Masaya's words resonated with her heart. He told her his history with FC just minutes ago, but to see the same person express such solid conviction, was very heartwarming to her. And it was touching that he cared for her like this.

"...You're right, that's absolutely right," Misaki said, smiling. "I was also blinded, unable to truly look at myself. If anything, I think I've been trying to feel sorry for myself. But, now I think I get it. I really do like FC. Heh, I guess I can't run away from it either after all, huh?"

"Misaki!" Masaya exclaimed, very happy to hear those words.

"Thank you Masaya," Misaki said in a soft voice. 'I always had those right beside me, and instead I gave up rather than improving.'

Mashiro had planned to come back to Misaki's home and give her something she left on her desk, which apparently was a notebook. But when she heard Misaki's grandma mention Masaya and Misaki up in her room, Mashiro decided to listen in on their conversation in secret. She had heard everything from the start, and like Misaki, she was moved by Masaya's words. She left, letting the two of them stay alone.

It eventually became nighttime, and Misaki prepared two pillows on her bed. Settling down and falling asleep, Misaki woke up an hour later while he was fast asleep. Looking at his sleeping face, Misaki's eyes narrowed while she smiled. Planting a kiss to his cheek, she went back to sleep.

Later the next morning at school:

The gang noticed how Misaki was no longer down. "Senpai is recharged!" Mashiro exclaimed with an adored face.

"Yes, yes," Misaki said in her bored voice, pushing Mashiro's face away from her. "Boy, you guys must be so helpless without me, I suppose I have to join again."

"Really!?" Asuka asked, very happy about that.

"Hmm, but why the sudden change of mind?" Madoka asked curiously. "You were so evasive about it yesterday."

"No reason," Misaki said in a slight happy voice, glancing at Masaya.

He smiled back.

Mashiro shifted in thought, wondering how to thank Masaya for what he did. She was deeply thankful to him for bringing her back. She was filled with so much appreciation that she wasn't sure how to get it out. Finally, Mashiro walked over to Masaya, softly muttering a shy 'T-thank you' with red cheeks before leaving.

Masaya blinked, wondering what that was about. After school, the gang went to the trailer, where Misaki signed herself back on the list.

"Alright, now let's get down to some practice!" Madoka cheered.

"...You're not the one in charge, right?" Misaki asked with a sweat drop, and then looked at Masaya.

"Training, begin!" Masaya said, in his serious coach voice.

"Yeah!" the girls all said with pumped fists.

Meanwhile with Irina and Saki, they were at their apartment, looking at something on a laptop.

"Hinata Masaya, only a month or so ago became the official FC coach of Kunahama school's club," Irina read through the data bank. "I see, but why? And it's not like he is actually playing like before. He surfaces back up, but he still won't play, the boy who was a promising FC prodigy."

Saki said nothing.

A/N: I totally removed the girls pestering Misaki to such idiotic levels. I've said it before, what does it take to get the message across to their brains that she wants to be alone and doesn't want to explain why she quit? I get they want to know, but still, they should have layed off and quit pestering her so much. Wasn't a fan of the writers using Mashiro for comedy when Asuka and Misaki had their private talk in the show at Misaki's place. Mashiro I think would be considerate enough to realize when Misaki wants to talk to one of her friends privately instead of making a fuss about it and interrupting them. She also knows for a fact that Misaki quit FC not long ago, so there's no way she's going to be on her antics right now and would feel pretty down and concerned for her friend. So that whole her interrupting them and being on her antics until Misaki made her get out, felt ooc to me and made her really annoying and a hindrance to the scenes.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.

Episode 9 new version:

The next morning, Masaya was sound asleep. He had forgot to lock not only his front door, but the door to his room due to everything that had happened yesterday. Misaki came over a bit early though with a bit of drowsiness. On a few occasions, Misaki could wake up by herself and go to school, but this time she instead came to pick him up and go to school together. Opening his house door, followed by going to and opening his door, she found a sleeping Masaya. Going over to him, she bended close to his ear and muttered "Masaya" in a slight seductive voice. This caused his eyes to come open, and see the cause of the voice.

"Misaki!" Masaya exclaimed in surprise, jolting in a jumpscare fashion. "How did you get in here!?"

"It seems like you didn't lock your doors," Misaki casually said.

"Eh?" Masaya blinked. "Well anyway, you're here, so I guess I'll make us some breakfast."

"Yes-nyaa!" Misaki uttered, this time with one of her rare cat-phrases.

Once they finished eating, Masaya brushed his teeth while Misaki went to his room. Not one to think about invasion of privacy, Misaki went through one of his drawers, and spotted the picture of him as a kid with Aoi. He looked so happy being able to fly in Grav-Shoes. Misaki then placed it back in and closed the drawer.

"I'm done!" Masaya called out.

"Y-yeah!" Misaki quickly said.

So they left his house and headed to school by first finding a Grav-Shoe pad. Masaya had grown at least used to using his Grav-Shoes to go to school by this point.

'Well, it's good to see this girl back to her usual self,' Masaya chuckled inwardly before Misaki suddenly scooted close to him while they walked. "What?"

"Nothing," Misaki said in a carefree nice voice.

Masaya was confused, having no idea what was going on.

Mashiro caught sight of them as they found a Grav-Shoe pad and flew off. Catching up to them, she spoke.

"Geez you're flying a bit too close to her," Mashiro told him.

"Maybe you should tell Misaki that," Masaya said nervously.

"What's the harm?" Misaki asked carefreely. "I'm fine right where I am."

As she eyed him with a content look, Masaya looked away, feeling awkward. Mashiro sighed and started lecturing them about the need to be more discreet, though Masaya felt all she said was being applied to Misaki mainly.

'Why am I getting all of this?' Masaya thought while sweat dropping.

Asuka eventually caught up with them, and the gang chatted like normal while Misaki still stuck close to Masaya. Getting to class, Misaki went to her seat while Masaya slumped into his chair and closed his eyes to relax.

"You look tired," Madoka pointed out.

"...You have no idea," Masaya said exasperatedly, opening his eyes. 'I had to put up with Misaki's strange behavior all morning on top of Mashiro giving us nag. Those two are truly exhausting...'

Asuka stared at Masaya with a few blinks, wondering what's got him so tired.

During lunch, it was quickly apparent Misaki was keeping close to Masaya outside after they sat down to eat. Masaya was notably nervous, still having no idea what's going on. Mashiro eyed them both with her hands resting on both sides of her cheeks.

"Aren't you two getting along well," Madoka teased.

"What are you talking about?" Masaya asked, having no clue why Madoka suddenly said that.

"Indeed we are," Misaki said, becoming visibly more flirtatious than she usually is.

"Yeah, yeah, now let go of him would ya!" Mashiro said uncaringly at Misaki.

"Nooo!" Misaki said in a slight playful cat-like tone.

"Hey, Misaki," Masaya tried to say, in agreement with Mashiro. "You can let go of me-"

"Noope!" Misaki said in a carefree voice while he face-palmed and sighed.

'How did my day turn out like this?' Masaya thought.

Madoka turned away from everyone, trying very hard to hold in laughter as her eyes teared up, as she found the scene hilarious.

'You know, why am I not surprised?' Mashiro thought.

"This fish is good!" Asuka said, completely immersed in her own food thoughts that she wasn't paying attention to the conversation.

Masaya stared at Misaki with a nervous look, while Misaki had a carefree yet content look.

After school, once they made their way out of the school, Masaya spoke.

"Okay, let's get some training-" Masaya started, but Misaki grabbed him by the arm. "H-hey!"

"Madoka, can you take over just this once?" she asked.

"Huh? Why?" Madoka asked with a blink.

"Masaya and I have plans," Misaki said.

"You never said anything about-" Masaya tried to get in, but Misaki was already pulling him away. "Don't pull me! Geez!"

Everyone, including even Shion sweat dropped with a 'what just happened' face. Mashiro was going to follow, but Madoka grabbed her arm and put her in place.

"And just where do you think you're going?" Madoka asked with a grin. "You're going to stay right here and leave them be."

"He might try something funny!" Mashiro said, though not completely convinced herself despite saying it.

"Come on now, he's not like that," Madoka said. "Besides, he's not the one being very flirtatious."

"What do you mean?" Asuka said, totally oblivious.

"You can't tell?" Madoka asked as if it was obvious. "Ever since she returned, she's been very flirtatious with him."

"That's not really a shock," Aoi chuckled, as the others faced her. "I've known Tobisawa for a while, and I'm fully aware of the fact that she's always been very fond of Masaya. I guess you could say that Tobisawa is starting to up her attempts for his affection."

"Say, how did they meet?" Asuka asked, curious about it.

"Let's see, based on what Masaya said to me before..." Aoi started.

Meanwhile with Masaya and Misaki, they headed for a flight pad.

'Really...what's with this girl?' Masaya thought in exasperation. 'Then again, it has been awhile since we've really done something with just the two of us.'

In reality, Misaki fooled him. She really had nothing big planned, and was her secret way of getting him into a date with her. Masaya of course had no idea about this.

'First phase, complete!' Misaki thought proud and excitedly.

"What are you smiling about?" Masaya asked.

"Don't worry about it," Misaki said.

"Well, you said you had plans, right?" Masaya asked. "So what are they?"

"I wonder," Misaki left open on purpose.

So they went on a shopping spree, or to Misaki secretly, a 'shopping date'. At this point Masaya smiled, watching the girl radiate so much positivity and enjoyment trying out new clothes and showing off to him in them. And it was such a relief seeing the cheerful Misaki like this in contrast to her previous depressed state. After this, they went to a theater, and after buying some popcorn, sat in chairs and enjoyed the movie being played. The movie in question was very comedic yet serious at times. As such, they both had different emotions throughout depending on the scene in question. By now it grew dark, and Masaya and Misaki sat near the sea.

"Man, you ate a lot of popcorn," Masaya chuckled.

"But, the butter flavor was just too good-nyaa," Misaki said. "You sure seemed to have fun."

"I did, and so did you," Masaya said, looking at the many stars. "Remember when we first met?"

Flashback near 2 years before Asuka came to Kunahama school:

Masaya was walking about on a sidewalk, bored as usual. Ever since quitting FC, he had no motivation for anything. In fact seeing people talking around him just bored him, as he didn't really care that much. The most he had any drive for was reading books. However, he was still firm on doing his homework and turning it in on time, along with keeping his house managed when his relatives weren't around. Right now he planned to go to school like any other day.

As he approached a tree, he heard a "nyaa!" sound. Looking in the direction, he spotted a purple haired girl frantically on the ground looking for something.

"What?" Masaya wondered, curious as to what was going on.

"Udon, where's my udon!" the girl said in panic.

Masaya walked up to her with a sweat drop, making her do a complete stop and face him. "Um...udon?" Masaya asked, perplexed, and pointed to a bread-like object behind her.

In relief, she grabbed and ate it up. "Delicious!" she yelled in joy, before facing him again. "You, what's your name?"

"Masaya," he said. "And you?"

"Misaki," she said before smiling. "Nice to meet you."

Masaya stared at her with interest. He was intrigued by this girl and wanted to know more about her. Since they did have some time before school would start, they found somewhere to sit and chatted instead of going to school yet.

"Do you like Udon a lot or something?" Masaya asked nervously.

"Yes!" Misaki said as her face greatly perked up, and she childishly grabbed an Udon food piece out of her pocket as her eyes glistened. "Look at it! The perfect flavor!"

Masaya's eyes twitched as he gave her a nervous look and sweat drop. "I-I see!" he stuttered, and he took a piece and bit into it. "It's good."

"Right!" Misaki said, happy he liked it.

From here on, the two became good friends, hanging out with each other. For the first time since he quit, Masaya was enjoying himself, talking with and being with Misaki. Misaki wasn't really all that into FC, though she did allude in one of their conversations that she simply just lost interest due to her lazy nature. She asked him if he plays FC himself, but he only was willing to say that he used to and was taught by Aoi, but he didn't say anything further, to which Misaki respected the clear sensitivity on the matter. When he found out she has a hard time getting up in the mornings occasionally, he opted to help her out, with the exception of getting her dressed. In that case he would turn around and make it very clear for her to get dressed. Over time, they met Madoka and then Mashiro. Mashiro grew very attached to Misaki, and at first assumed Masaya to be some pervert hanging around her all the time until Misaki pointed out he was her best friend and does not view him that way. Mashiro found their close friendship annoying in any case, but eventually grew used to it as she hanged out with Masaya more and got to see him for who he is, prompting her to take back her accusations of him. Mashiro also assumed control of taking it upon herself to wake Misaki up in the mornings instead of him. Her case being that it was a "girl's job". Of course, as the girls all started talking to each other more, Masaya would sit out of a lot of them back then, because he just wasn't that interested in their girl talks. This drifted him and Misaki in spending less time together, though it didn't wash away their friendship.

Flashback end.

"I thought you were the weirdest person around, going 'udon' over and over," Masaya continued. "Yet, I always enjoyed being with you."

"Mmm," Misaki said gently. "And I thought you were a boring guy. Before we knew it though, we'd become best friends."

"Yeah," Masaya said.

"But...you've really changed," Misaki said gently.

"How so?" he asked.

"Before, you were always so unmotivated by everything," Misaki started. "When Asuka came along and you decided to become our coach, I could see a fire lit within you. You were so full of passion like I'd never seen, completely different from how you were before then."

"Funny you say that," Masaya started, looking at her. "I didn't want to even be your coach, but the more it went along, the more I started to enjoy it. I even ended up where I am now, enjoying the sport itself. What I once tried to throw away, found it's way right back."

"Same here," Misaki said as her smile beamed. "I tried to run away, but now I'm back to what I tried to distance myself from just recently, thanks to you. And I plan to zipzap harder than ever to make up for my withdrawal!"

Masaya stared at her in envy. She was trying to press forward and bury her wounds, and yet he had been getting back into the sport without truly moving on from the past. She then scooted closer to him and placed her hand softly on his.

"Yeah, I'm sure you will," Masaya said gently as he smiled at her, and then blushed when Misaki placed a kiss to his cheek.

"Only if you're going to train me," Misaki said. "I want to get better with you."

The words were very sincere, and Masaya nodded in response. "If that's what you want, alright," he said.

The two stayed for a while longer, enjoying the view and remaining close.

The next day, the gang was in the trailer just relaxing, when suddenly they heard something.

"What's that!?" Madoka asked, pointing outside above to the source of the noise.

"A helicopter," Misaki said.

Masaya gasped as he read the words on it. "That's," he said, noting the words "Avalon". 'It can't be, those two girls?'

The gang saw the copter land and headed in its direction. When they finally arrived, as Masaya theorized, Saki and Irina were standing before Aoi. The other students at this time had gone home. Realizing they came for a match, Aoi wanted to object, as she does not approve of their Birdcage, but she consented when she saw Asuka was very excited about the idea of facing Saki. Once they got to the beach, Aoi warned Asuka that if things should not feel right, to let Masaya know in an instant.

"Asuka," Masaya started. "Be on guard. You saw how easily she toyed with Shindou-san. Her strength is no joke. Furthermore her goal is likely to dominate you the way she did Shindou-san. But I have a plan."

"I see you haven't changed your serious side when it comes to FC play, Hinata Masaya," Irina cut in with a boasty voice.

Masaya tensed. "What are you getting at?" he asked as sweat formed on his cheek.

"Precisely what I said," Irina said.

"I see," Masaya said, realizing she was clearly familiar with the time he had played FC, then avoided her gaze.

Irina then approached Masaya. "I have a question," she started. "What are you doing back in FC?" Masaya blinked quickly as a surge of panic rushed into him. "Answer!"

Irina's voice clearly held anger, annoyed at him not giving a reply. Aoi looked at Masaya, growing worried.

"To regain what I've lost," Masaya finally answered.

"What you've lost?" Irina asked with a curious look.

"Yes," Masaya said. "Recently...I've grown to miss the old days."

"With Aoi's team?" Irina guessed.

"Huh?" Madoka wondered, curious.

"I watched the tournament from a TV at the time," Irina said. "He was playing on her team. Then...things spiraled downhill I heard."

'Not good!' Aoi thought, noting Masaya's uncomfortable look.

"You got scared, and because of that, your team lost," Irina continued. "And then that happened..."

Masaya briefly jolted.

"'That happened'?" Asuka asked in curiousity.

"What do you mean?" Mashiro asked, but Aoi kept quiet and closed her eyes.

"I believe a proper explanaton is in order," Irina stated calmly. "Sometime after Aoi's team lost, rumors started to say that Aoi's team had retired. At the time you were their only third member. With no third member, the team ended up retiring."

"Masaya," Mashiro said in both worry and sympathy.

Asuka, Madoka and Misaki watched on with sad looks.

"You see, I deeply admired Aoi, seeing her wonderful performances," Irina said as Aoi listened. "You can imagine I would deny the rumors. But after finding out they were true, it was like I had been pierced by a needle. It was shocking, knowing that Aoi had retired, knowing that I would never have the chance to see more of her wonderful Birdcage she so strove for at first."

The gang looked at Aoi, who shook her head, not sure exactly what to say right now.

Masaya remained where he was, looking up at nobody or saying anything. Just then Madoka recalled something Irina said about the team.

"Wait, I thought you could enter tournaments by yourself or with a team," Madoka said to Irina.

"That's only true now," Aoi told Madoka. "Back then, FC was more restricted in how you enter tournaments. Back then you needed a team of three. But as the sport evolved and more people entered, the rule was lifted in favor of more freedom. Now we can enter by ourself, or with a team, but no more than a team of four can enter."

"That is correct," Irina said before facing Masaya again. "I'm actually grateful to you. I struggled with what to do after the team broke up. But, I remembered the beautiful FC Aoi had done and applied myself in mastering what Aoi couldn't. I didn't have the knack for FC play, but Saki did. So it became like this, I would be the coach who gave her strategic advice while she skillfully masters Aoi's FC. But enough of that. Hinata Masaya, aren't you avoiding the real truth? You claim to have come back, but aren't you still running away from truly playing?"

"...You're wrong, you're wrong!" Masaya finally let out his emotions in a burst of denial.

"Am I?" Irina asked with a hand to her chin. "Are you not further proving my point right now? If you're truly resolved, then why are you so uncertain? In the end, you're going to let down others again." Her voice held no arrogance, and seemed one of trying to give legitimate advice.

Aoi had to agree with Irina on this. Masaya has to face this fear of playing with Grav-Shoes. Having come into a new team and had hew experiences, he must overcome this. Aoi understood his hesitance still, but he has progressed a lot.

Masaya's heart started beating fast enough that it forced him to lower himself on the ground. Strong feelings of despair crept in as his hands rested on the ground.

'I...has nothing changed after all?' Masaya asked himself in thought. 'Am I-'

"No," Misaki started gently, yet audible enough for Irina to blink and focus on her as she walked up next to Masaya. "True, if it was the Masaya before becoming our coach, you might have had a point. But, he's no longer the same." Masaya faced her. "The Masaya now proudly supports us, and never abandons us!"

"Misaki..." Masaya muttered.

"Even now, I don't doubt for a second," Misaki said with confidence. "I believe in him, and so do my friends. I ran away too recently, but I came back, and I'm here to stay! It's the same for Masaya, right?"

She then turned to Masaya, and gave an encouraging smile. Masaya then looked at his hand, then clenched it after a few seconds, but not in doubt. Getting up, he spoke as the life in his eyes came back.

"I, won't hesitate anymore!" Masaya said with a determined look. "I should thank you, Irina."

"Eh?" Irina stared at him curiously.

"You said it yourself, that I was running away," Masaya said with a gentle smile. "You're right. FC was something I tried to keep away from after I quit as a child, but I joined this team. I thought I would hate it, but that's far from the truth. The truth is, I grew to have so much fun with this team. It hit me, that FC was way too fun to avoid."

"So you say," Irina challenged his statement, finding it contradicting to what she said.

"But I realize now that subconsously I still held the fear of playing with Grav-Shoes," Masaya lamented. "In other words, just like you said, I was running away. I didn't want to face up to doing it and convinced myself I had totally let go. That was naive thinking on my part."

Irina stared at him in silence with a calm expression. Masaya clenched his fist determinedly.

"That's why, I'm not running away anymore!" Masaya stated with arguably the most determined tone anyone's heard from him. "I'll press forward with everything I have from now on!"

"Coach," Asuka smiled, happy to hear that, and Misaki and the others smiled at him too.

Irina studied him. 'The look in his eyes has changed,' she thought in surprise. 'There's no struggle, or any signs of doubt. He's truly resolved to the very depths of his heart.' After staring at him for a few more moments, she spoke, but a friendly expression came on her face. "Very well, if that's the case, show me how far you can come with your team. Your resolve is commendable, Hinata Masaya. You have my respect."

'Hayato, if only you were here to see this,' Aoi thought, glad to see him finally break free of the chains that held him back at last.

Saki remained quiet the whole time.

With that, the match started, but very quickly Saki put her Birdcage in display. This proved too overwhelming for Asuka, whose usual positive nature had faded. Masaya tried to calm her down, but the girl was so emotionally distract due to feeling like no matter what she does, Saki will just intercept her. Asuka ended up losing, but noticing that she wasn't stopping herself as she headed towards the water, Misaki yelled out to her and saved her in time. Getting Asuka onto the beach and sitting her down, Misaki knelt down, worried. Asuka tried to stay positive, but a few unnoticed tears escaped her concealed face.

Saki and Irina left, thanking them for allowing the practice match. As they flew away in the helicopter, Irina turned to Saki.

"That was splendid," Irina said, congratulating the girl for her win against Asuka.

"Mmm," Saki said emotionlessly.

"Soon, the whole world shall see...that our beautiful FC-no, Kagami's original FC, is the best way," Irina said with a cocky look.

A/N: The whole thing with the kid past match stuff is Misaki didn't actually have enough evidence to assume that he really was who she fought back then, which is why Misaki completely dismissed the idea in episode 9 of the show (she didn't see the point to dwelling on the matter when there was not enough evidence to say for a total fact it was indeed him). Yeah maybe he might have looked similar to the kid, but that's still not enough evidence for Misaki to assume that he is that person. On top of that, the result would have been the same for Masaya had he lost to another kid at the time (he would have still quit), so the fact it was Misaki really holds no importance to it or matters. I don't think Masaya and Misaki met again until they were much older, because if they had met as kids again, then Misaki and Masaya obviously would have been able to recognize each other, and the fact they don't remember ever facing each other (or recognize each other) way back then in FC tells me they didn't meet again until many years later. It's not implied in the show they even talked in that match, so for all we know they could have simply just treated each other like some other opponent in that match. And I'm sure Misaki and Masaya would not really care if they found out now about having fought each other way back then, because their past match as kids has no meaning anymore, because their friendship is not based on some match they had back then. Now, I can understand Misaki feeling a little bad if she found out she was one of the reasons he quit, but ultimately it's not really a factor anymore anyway since he was already starting to move on even in the show at that point.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Just to say, I'm writing two extra episodes, so that will put it at 14 episodes. Just consider the last two episodes like two unaired episodes that then show up on a DVD version (they will continue right off my episode 12 rewrite). I might also write out an ova chapter after the 14 episodes are done.

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.

Episode 10 rewrite:

As Mashiro and Misaki went to give Asuka some homework, they heard what sounded like her singing. The next day, Misaki was at school in her seat, thinking about Asuka's expression after she lost to Saki. The memory was very painful to Misaki, seeing the bubbly girl make such a face. Closing her eyes for a few moments, she then heard Asuka's voice. Seeing the girl enter the classroom and seemingly back to her usual self relieved her.

"That girl has so much energy," Misaki said.

"Right," Masaya said behind her.

The two watched as Asuka talked with Madoka and Mashiro. During lunch, Asuka left on her own to hang out at a specific spot from the school island, which was a pillar that was way above the ground. After sitting down and clinging to it, Asuka had a flashback of her singing as a child. Just then, Misaki showed up.

"Misaki-chan..." Asuka said.

"You left your lunch in the classroom," Misaki said, holding it up.

"I see," Asuka said, and then started up again. "Don't worry, I feel better now."

"Really? Then why did you cling to this place with your eyes shut?" Misaki asked.

"Frustration," Asuka started in a more serious voice. "Inui-san's so good. But, when we fought, I felt trapped, like I couldn't fly anymore. But I'm happy! Because that means I have to do better!"

"Asuka," Misaki said, surprised at her recovery.

"I won't hesitate anymore like this," Asuka said. "I realize what I need to do. I want to catch up to Inui-san and fly with her!"

Misaki gave a look of confidence. "Now you're talking!" she said as they both laughed.

Then later afternoon, Masaya commenced his role as a coach and had the girls do some running. At one point Madoka's brother showed up, but eventually Madoka forced him to leave for his studies, and Aoi arrived just as he left. From here on, practice went on like normal. A day later, Asuka requested Satou and Rika for practice, while later in the day Misaki went to Shindou to request his assistance. The next day, Misaki practiced with Shindou, but when Masaya finally was going to the trailer, Misaki flew down abruptly and called out to him.

"I was just thinking...you said you enjoy FC again and understand what you need to do to go forward," Misaki said thoughtfully, recalling what he said a few days ago. "If you've got that resolve, why don't you try to fly again in the sport?"

"That's why I'm getting some Grav-Shoes out of the trailer," Masaya said as Misaki looked very happy about that.

Stepping in, he took out some Grav-Shoes. "After what you said a few days ago, I was starting to think it was empty words," Aoi grinned.

"Until now, I've been content just coaching the team, but I want to try flying in FC again," Masaya stated. "I want to be of full help to them not just as a coach, but as a player."

"...If you feel that strongly, then go forward," Aoi said with a smile, seeing the powerful resolve in his eyes.

So Masaya got the Grav-Shoes, and as he walked out, Aoi closed her eyes, thinking he's finally returned.

Outside, Misaki was facing Shindou in practice in the air while she waited for Masaya to come out. Despite her efforts, Shindou kept swiping her away with ease. Charging at him again after he complimented her, suddenly something flashing green passed in front of her, bringing her to a stop. As her back got hit for a point, Misaki gasped in realization that it was Masaya.

'He's fast!' Misaki thought.

The girls on ground looked shocked and tensed at this unexpected event.

"You're getting too worked up, Misaki," Masaya said.

"Coach!" Asuka said from the ground, awe struck.

"Hinata-kun," Shindou uttered in surprise, only to look at his feet. "Those Grav-Shoes!"

"Misaki, try to land a point against me even if you have to throw the full zipzap at me!" Masaya said firmly.

"You got it!" Misaki declared with a confident expression. "Haaaa!"

Misaki attempted to get him off balance, but Masaya dodged her very easily. After repeated attempts, Misaki tried to get above him, but Masaya flew beyond her effortlessly and knocked her down below him. Misaki responded by trying to do it again, but this time, Masaya spinned and flew very high after releasing the built up momentum.

"What was that!?" Asuka asked in amazement.

"Sonic Boost, similar to Inui's elevation," Shindou explained a bit aways from them. "It's an explosive move that trems bits of the membrane. Hinata-kun already mastered it back in grade school."

The girls on ground looked at him in shock. While Masaya and Misaki collided over and over, Aoi came out and watched as well.

"You're being too predictable!" Masaya pointed out firmly. "Try doing things to confuse your opponent!"

"Roger!" Misaki said, trying to keep up with him. "Got ya-" Masaya rolled around her and touched her back so quickly Misaki could barely process what happened, and then smiled. "This is fun, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Masaya said smiling as well.

Misaki smiled at him with glazed eyes, deeply happy he was playing again.

"Unbelievable," Rika awed. "Masaya was this strong the whole time?"

"Quite something, that boy," Satou said.

"What could have changed to get him back into this?" Shindou asked, as this was quite exciting seeing him play. Aoi filled Shindou and his team in. "Is that right?"

"Will he be okay?" Rika asked, worried how he may react playing after hearing that.

"I don't think that's a problem," Madoka pointed out. "That guy is having the time of his life up there. Misaki too."

"I should say though that Tobisawa has been a huge reason too," Aoi pointed out as Shindou's group along with Asuka and Mashiro went "EH?". "She came up with the plan to get Masaya in the club. As events unfolded he grew stronger. And you three remember when Tobisawa gave him the strength a few days earlier, that shattered his fear of flying."

"And he brought senpai back when she quit FC," Mashiro said, smiling. "The two helped each other grow stronger."

"Now I see, so they've both helped each other to move on from their problems," Shindou deduced. "But what's this about Tobisawa quitting FC?"

"When she realized how much better you really were, it upset her that you weren't playing her seriously and made her feel pathetic," Aoi said. "On top of that, the fact Kurashina had done much better against you than her, just furthered her feelings of frustration and powerlessness."

"I see," Shindou said feeling a little responsible, because he could have went all out before the match ended with Misaki to show her just how much she needs to improve. "Was I not respectful towards her as a player as I should have been?"

"I wouldn't say that," Aoi said. "Because if you had went all out with her, the result would have been the same. She would have still felt the way she did and quit. Tobisawa's true issue is she placed limits on herself. Her real problem is she believed that she had gotten as good as she could possibly be as a dogfighter-that's naive thinking. In FC there are no limits. If you slack off, you will be surpassed eventually. Tobisawa prided herself on being the best of the team, and that proved to be her undoing. She was so blinded by that that she didn't see that Kurashina passed her. And that came as a shock to Tobisawa too, to see that someone on her team passed her and could do much better against you."

"Misaki-chan," Asuka said, feeling sympathy for her.

"Don't worry," Aoi assured her. "Tobisawa has moved past that all now."

As Shindou kept watching Masaya, he spoke.

"Well I'm glad to see the boy I joined FC for in the first place is playing again...now I really have a reason to train for!" Shindou said with hype.

"Then you better train hard, because from where I stand, he would make you look helpless right now," Satou said, not sugercoating it.

"Right," Shindou chuckled.

Back in the air, Misaki was totally dominated, unable to do anything against Masaya still. While they kept flying around, the others on the ground smiled, genuinely happy to see Masaya fly again and overcome his doubts.

Suddenly, everything else blurred out in Masaya's view before he spotted his past younger self flying next to him. The younger him had flied with a smile on his face just like this.

'It's been too long,' Masaya thought, briefly closing his eyes before opening them back up.

As if regaining what he had lost, the image in his view merged with him as he delivered a powerful swipe containing his full new passion. His voice roared before the collision.

Following their practice, Masaya and Misaki sat down and had some water.

"That was a shock you know, playing and all," Madoka said to Masaya.

"Yes, you were awesome!" Asuka said with admiration.

"I would say scary even," Mashiro said, recalling his overwhelming strength.

"In any case, I'm tired," Masaya said.

"That was the first time you did it since you were a kid," Shindou said. "So it makes sense it would exhaust you fairly quickly."

"I guess so," Masaya said.

"Say, can I practice with Shindou-san?" Asuka asked, now fired up.

"By all means," Shindou welcomed kindly.

So they flew up and practiced.

"She's getting better," Misaki commented.

"Yeah," Masaya said.

The two watched Asuka practice, happy with her improving.

Later during the night, Shindou was at his home, when Misaki knocked and entered, having found out where he lived.

"What do you want?" Shindou asked, facing her.

"The fall tournament...I want you to enter!" Misaki said unwaveringly.

"Oh?" Shindou said with a grin. "May I ask why?"

"Because there will be no point in me entering if you aren't," Misaki said in confidence, while Shindou gave a look of confidence at the girl.

"...Very well." Shindou said, before making an intimidating look. "I hope you don't come to regret that decision."

A/N: Aoi served no purpose in the show's episode 10 end scene other than to simply stop Masaya's big moment. They don't even tell you what Aoi's 'ace in the hole' was, and even after, it's still not explained what she actually taught them. So I went and took that out as such. I didn't understand why they were focusing so much on Asuka when she had her 'issue' in episode 9 of the show. Asuka's issue was not a big deal compared to Misaki's, and was in fact very miniscule. She just got depressed because Saki made her feel trapped with the Birdcage (they were making it look like a big deal, when Asuka's problem was very minor, and she wasn't even going to quit FC anyway, as it is revealed Asuka just took a day off). Misaki actually quit FC and got down for bigger reasons. On top of that, Masaya has been through what Misaki is going through and feeling, so he actually understands how she feels and what she's going through. Asuka should have just worked through her problem on her own, because like I'm saying, it was a very miniscule issue compared to Misaki's problems. This should have been where Asuka took a backseat, while Masaya is utilized and talks with Misaki again, and improving their friendship. I didn't think episode 9 was written as good as it should have been for these precise reasons. Also, did anyone ever wonder why Misaki didn't even try to ask Masaya if he wanted to try flying again? He did tell her everything in episode 8 of the show, and you would think Misaki would at least try to get him to fly again now knowing his current mind-set (she also came back in the sport on top of that now, so that even furthers my point that she should have said something before he goes in the trailer when they were all practicing). And no offense to anyone, but Masaya asking Asuka to practice with him the first time he plays again never made sense to me. Misaki is the person he even opened up to at all in the show and told of his past and basically why he's hesitant about FC, yet he just has Asuka practice with him the first time just because, which made no sense. I'd think it would make more sense that it's Misaki he asks to practice with the first time he does it again.


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.

Episode 11 rewrite:

Shindou was currently sitting, meditating with his eyes closed at a temple he frequently goes to. A smile was on his face, evident he was glad about something.

"You sure seem happy," Satou said, sitting next to him.

"Hmph, I wasn't expecting to enter this tournament," Shindou said in a content voice. "But it seems Tobisawa wants me to."

"That girl is always eager to fight you," Satou said. "She's lost to you twice, yet she's still determined to beat you."

"And that's what I like about her," Shindou admitted. "It's because she's so persistent that I can look forward to what she brings the next time."

"Maybe Masaya will be in the tournament," Satou said with a grin. "Though you're not in his league right now."

"True," Shindou said, before giving a smirk. "However, since he just started to play again, I reckon he'll sit this one out. But just in case, Satou-kun, I've got quite some training to do."

"Satouin!" she said in annoyance: Shindou never tired of teasing this girl with this.

Meanwhile with Masaya and the gang, they were sitting down and taking a break. Mashiro then recklessly turned off the balancers on her shoes.

"WAAAAA, what is this!?" Mashiro asked as she spinned rapidly.

"Quick, turn the switch you just pulled back up!" Masaya yelled.

She then did as told and pulled it forward, shutting down the absurd instability she just experienced.

"Mashiro-chan, how did you do that!?" Asuka asked, awestruck.

"She turned off the balancers keeping her Grav-Shoes balanced," Masaya said as the others faced him.

"Balancers?" Misaki asked with interest.

"It's where you release the limitations keeping your shoes at a balanced speed," Masaya said. "Unfortunately, it's too unstable. The worst case scenario, you could be trapped under the water with no way to get up or crash into the ground."

"But what if you mastered it?" Misaki asked.

"Do so, and you will be able to use Grav-Shoes to levels of speed not seen before with them," Masaya answered her. "Kagami-sensei tried to do it when she was younger, but couldn't. She sealed off the move as a result, and it remained forgotten."

"Let me try it!" Asuka said in excitement after hearing him explain it all.

"Wait-" Masaya was too late, as the energetic girl already unlocked it.

Asuka was having better balance than Mashiro for sure, but she had to stay in place, otherwise she would twitch and fly out of control.

"Alright, turn it back on!" Masaya ordered.

"Y-yes!" Asuka obeyed, quickly turning it on to limit her shoes and then gently landed on the ground.

"Not so easy is it," Madoka said while Asuka rubbed her head with a hand and laughed nervously.

Masaya and Misaki sweat dropped and sighed.

Meanwhile, elsewhere with Irina and Saki, it grew dark, and Saki just finished effortlessly defeating some tough players for practice.

"Good job, Saki," Irina said, walking over to her: Saki hadn't said a word in reply, and after going outside, continued. "The night is such perfect silence."

"Mmm," Saki agreed.

"It reminds me of when we first saw Aoi," Irina said, thinking back.

Flashback to when they were kids:

The two young girls walked on the beach, planning to simply have fun in the water.

"I want to build a sand castle first!" a more lively Saki said.

"Again? Really you...Saki, what's wrong?" Irina asked, then looked up where she was looking and spotted unbeknownst to them, Aoi. "What's that girl doing?"

They watched as Aoi flew gracefully about, which captivated them.

"Awesome!" Saki cheered, fascinated with glazed eyes.

"Beautiful!" Irina said with glazed eyes as well.

Aoi then performed what seemed like a trap move, flying around very fast in a circle, trapping the current opponent who had no idea what to do, as they hadn't been in that situation before.

Irina was at a loss for words at how wonderful she found it, as did Saki. Irina then let out what she was thinking in earnest.

"Hey, let's try to become like that girl and create something like that!" Irina said, beaming with excitement.

"Yes!" Saki said in agreement.

End of flashback.

"That was a long time ago," Irina said. "Since then we took on Aoi's style and created our own version of it, the Birdcage. The same perfect silence and beauty she brought, I want to do the same. The current FC is just a cheap circus imitation! If we win one more tournament, everyone will be forced to admit our way is the better way."

Saki said nothing, but inwardly was troubled. The feelings she shared with Irina back then on this are not the same anymore. At first Irina had been earnest about it, but now she displayed bitterness and arrogance in her goal. This wasn't the Irina that Saki enjoyed, and it was very saddening. In truth Saki was only bored in FC because nobody could give her a challenge. She thought Shindou might be able to, but she was mistaken it seems. Saki was honestly wanting to quit, not wanting to follow Irina as she now is.

'But, I...' Saki thought in struggle.

Flashback to a younger Saki:

"Ha ha, you're so weird!" a boy laughed, throwing what one could assume food at her. "Always being alone! Talk about lame!"

In reality, Saki was just very shy at making friends, but people like this just made her too scared to even bother. After the boy walked away, Saki teared up and buried her face in her knees and sobbed. Just then a cat walked up, as if it could sense her feelings.

"A cat?" Saki asked, and to her surprise the cat loved on her. "Don't you have an owner?"

The cat meowed in a friendly way.

"That's a nice cat," a voice popped out.

Saki faced the direction and saw a girl with green hair. "Who are you?" she asked, wiping the tears out of her eyes, feeling wary of her and under the assumption she was going to be like that boy.

"I'm Irina, and you?" the girl asked, no ill intent in her tone.

"Saki," she said while Irina walked over and sat next to her.

"That's a nice name," Irina said in a friendly tone while smiling.

"Thank you," Saki said, now becoming a bit shy.

"I saw what happened," Irina said, her face reflecting how disgusted she felt at the boy's bullying. "To think people get their kicks off of acting like that to others!"

Saki stared at Irina, touched by the gesture. Truly this girl was completely different from that boy.

"Do you like cats?" Saki asked, guessing based off of how she was now kneeling and petting the cat.

"Yes, very much so!" Irina beamed at her. "Say, how about we eat and talk more?"

Saki blinked, but then smiled and nodded.

As they hanged out and spoke to each other more, Saki felt even more comfortable around this girl. She was also very understanding when Saki explained why she had tears and why she tends to keep her distance from others. Saki felt a strong trust towards this girl. From then on, they were best friends, always having each other's back. However, Saki still was not as open about being friends with anyone else. Due to always being ridiculed by people, she was not as open to anyone but Irina. Irina understood this and didn't try to force Saki into doing anything that would make her uncomfortable. Perhaps due to Saki relying heavily on Irina, the two formed a deep friendship to where they cherished one another very much.

End of flashback:

'Just like Irina is always there for me, I want to do the same for her!' Saki resolved.

"Saki?" Irina asked, noticing she was in deep thought.

"No, it's nothing," Saki said. "We will show the world our FC."

"Yeah," Irina said, looking up at the stars. "You're right."

Back with Masaya and co, as the days passed, it was apparent to the group that Masaya and Misaki seemed to particularly prefer training with each other. Not to say Asuka and Mashiro didn't get in some training with them, but Misaki and Masaya appeared to prefer training together.

"Hmm," Madoka said with amusement and then looked at Mashiro. "Are you sure about this, just letting him spend so much time with her?"

"I don't mind," Mashiro said with a hand to her cheek, watching the two practice in the air. "Even if I said something, Misaki-senpai would still spend time with and practice with him a lot anyway. She was the one who asked for training with him after all."

"So what exactly is going on between the two?" Madoka asked, though her tone indicating she had an idea.

"Does anyone even have to say it: it's love," Mashiro said matter of factly "It's obvious with how they prefer training together over us. Besides, Misaki-senpai has been more flirtatious with him than usual ever since he convinced her to come back. Of course, I've always suspected she liked Masaya-senpai, but I never asked her because I thought she would just avoid giving me an answer."

"But are you sure you're okay with the idea of letting her be with Masaya?" Madoka asked with a grin. "You did say he was a pervert before."

"Yes, but that was an assumption based on what Rika said," Mashiro stated. "In the end it was just an accident. Plus, we've all grown closer to him and spent time with him ever since he came out of his shell since becoming our coach. Obviously I have come to see by now he's not that kind of guy. Plus...he helped bring senpai back, and that means a lot to me. That's why, I want to support them. To be blunt, I'm okay with the two getting together if they do."

"Mashiro-chan," Asuka said and smiled.

Asuka was dense for a while, but she could see after observing them more that Misaki really did like him.

Meanwhile with Masaya and Misaki.

"Take this!" Misaki yelled, finally at long last performing an Air Kick Turn, catching Masaya off-guard and getting a point. "Yes, I did it!"

"It's too early to celebrate!" Masaya said, though glad for her. "The tournament will be filled with many strong people. So you need to get better than that."

"And that's exactly what I'm going to do!" Misaki said in a fun voice.

"Come!" Masaya said in a confident voice.

So they continued to intensely train. Asuka trained with the others seeing as Misaki and Masaya were busy training together. Misaki still trained with the others at times, but Masaya was her main training partner of course.

The night before the tournament, Masaya went to Hayato's shop.

"Hmm, someone at this hour-" Hayato stopped mid sentence. "Masaya? What brings you here?"

"Hayato," Masaya started seriously. "Mind giving me some training like back in the day?"

Hayato blinked quickly, realizing what Masaya just indicated. "You, then that means..." he started in shock, but then grinned. "Interesting." Closing shop, the two headed to the trailer area. "What brought about a change of mind for you?"

"Well, lots of things happened," Masaya said, though a smile was on his face.

"I see, I'm happy to hear that," Hayato said gently. "You know, even though you left us, we never hated you for it. I retired and got myself a nice shop while Aoi settled as a school teacher. But, we never gave up on you, and always believed you would rise back up. Honestly, those times we played together as a team were probably my happiest moments. I'm sure Aoi feels the same. It's hard to break a true bond your team has."

Masaya thought of his team, and specifically started thinking about Misaki. "I've grown to understand that feeling all too well," he said, before looking at Hayato who smiled at him.

Getting to the location, Aoi was waiting. "Why'd you call me out here at this time?" she asked, then noticed Hayato. "He got you too?"

"Yeah, for a flight in the sky with just the three of us, right?" Hayato asked.

"Oh?" Aoi grinned. "Now I'm feeling nostalgic."

Meanwhile, Misaki was walking towards the trailer with a bag. "These FC clothes should match well with his Grav-Shoes," she said to herself, then saw Masaya with Aoi and Hayato. "Huh?"

Turning on their Grav-Shoes, they flew up into the air. "Japan's true FC team is revived!" Hayato yelled in hype.

"Let's let loose like old times!" Aoi declared. "Let me remind you Masaya, of the hell we put you through."

"Bring it!" Masaya grinned, eager.

Misaki watched on in silence, not wanting to intrude on something this special.

"Take this, my Slash Burst!" Hayato said.

In a super swift movement, Hayato moved his palms in motion, making a swipe in front of Masaya's face in a slice motion. The swipe was so fast that Masaya was assaulted with the brief wind, making him close his eyes. Not even a full second later, Hayato flew behind and touched his back, gaining an unofficial point.

The impact knocked Masaya forward, but he grinned. "You haven't lost your touch, the one who was known as the Crimson Speeder of FC," Masaya said, doing an Air Kick Turn, but Hayato dodged easily.

"And you've still got your skills, but don't let it go to your head, prodigy boy!" Hayato yelled confidently.

After a bit, Aoi jumped in and scored a point by touching his back. "Don't leave yourself open," she said with a confident tone. "Your Sonic Boost vs mine...which is faster I wonder?"

Masaya still had no signs of being discouraged, and in fact seemed to be getting more excited. So the two built up speed and released it in a giant boost. Masaya was fast, but Aoi went past him so fast he barely saw it. He smiled, seeing how much stronger he needed to get before he was even in their league. After more intense fun practice, the three simply flew around together, enjoying the team reunion to their hearts content. While Masaya had a new team, there would always be a place for his original one to him.

Misaki watched on, smiling on seeing how happy he was. No doubt being able to fly with his old team must have meant so much to him. So him being able to do so again must be very heartwarming.

'Now, what do I do with this?' Misaki thought, looking at the bag she was holding. 'I guess I'll leave the bag next to the trailer and leave them be.'

So she did so and left.

The next day, Masaya and co flew to the tournament grounds.

"It's finally that time again!" Asuka said excitedly as they entered the tournament grounds.

"Geez, you're always so excited when this time comes..." Mashiro said exasperatedly.

"Of course, it's another chance to put our skills to the test!" Misaki said, hyped.

Mashiro didn't share their passion and groaned. The girl enjoyed FC, but she wasn't as passionate about it as they were, which leads to her being at times exasperated at their extreme excitement for it.

"By the way, why didn't you enter?" Madoka put the question to Masaya.

"Eh?" Masaya said, completely caught off-guard. "This is their tournament this time. I'm keeping out of this one, but I will enter the next one."

"Really?" Asuka said, wishing he would enter.

"Don't fret," Madoka started before eying Masaya. "His real reason I bet is to cheer Misaki on, right?"

"D-don't go making rash statements like that!" Masaya nearly yelled, flustered.

"Bingo," Mashiro grinned in amusement as well.

"You guys-" Masaya was cut off by Misaki putting an arm around him and circling near his lips with a hand.

"It's fine," Misaki stated in a flirtatious voice. "I feel much better knowing you're supporting me, Masaya."

As Masaya's cheeks flared red, he saw the others staring at him with entertained looks, minus Asuka who had an innocent smile.

"...A-anyway, let's keep moving!" Masaya tried to change the subject.

So they headed to the brackets, and took a good look at them to see who they would face on day one.

"Hmm, so I've got Rika, huh," Misaki said.

"I've got-" Mashiro started before an unpleasant laugh filled the air. "Don't tell me!"

"Ahahaha!" Satou laughed dramatically as she walked up to the group with Shindou and Rika. "That would be me! You better at least prove decent this time!"

"Seriously!?" Mashiro yelped in fright.

"Shindou-san," Misaki said with interest. "Are you entering?"

"Of course," Shindou said. "You said it wouldn't be worth it if I didn't, right?"

"Absolutely!" Misaki said bluntly with a confident look.

"Let's do our best, Misaki," Rika said to her.

"Yeah," Misaki said, smiling at the eager girl.

Shindou then noticed that Saki was mentioned as one of the opponents on the board and narrowed his eyes.

"President?" Satou asked, noticing his rather serious face.

"No, it's nothing," Shindou said before looking at the others. "Well, we better get to our booth. I'm in the first match. See you."

With that, the group walked away. "Good luck, Rika!" Mashiro said encouragingly, to which the girl smiled and waved back.

"Are you saying you want me to lose?" Misaki asked, kinda surprised at her.

"That's not it," Mashiro corrected her. "She's my friend, so I want to cheer for her as much as you."

"I see," Madoka said, understanding.

Just then, Minori's voice came in. "Now for the moment we've all been waiting for!" she declared. "The All-Japan Flying Circus Fall Tournament will now get underway! First off though, we would like to remind everyone of our current champion, Inui Saki! This girl along with her coach, Irina, proved to be the top contenders of the last tournament, defeating Shindou in a surprising victory to us all!"

The people watching from TV cheered as they saw Saki and Irina respectfully bow next to Minori.

"Inui-san," Asuka said, happy to know that she was taking part in the tournament.

"I knew it, so they're here too," Masaya said as he and the others looked on: They hadn't looked at the board enough to notice their names were there.

"Now, let the tournament begin!" Minori declared with hype, and after a few moments to give the first competing players time to get to their booth, resumed. "Alright, the first match will be Shindou, the 'King of Kings' vs the Elegant Rin!"

'Don't lose to anyone, Shindou-san,' Misaki thought. 'Not until we face each other again.'

Sure enough, Shindou utterly curb stomped his opponent with no effort.

"As expected of President, an easy victory!" Satou said confidently.

"Mmm," Rika agreed.

Irina closed her eyes. She and Saki were in a cafe watching via a TV. "He's no big deal," Irina said surely. "He's no match for our FC. And you've already defeated him before."

Saki said nothing, but agreed. Little did they understand, he had become a lot stronger.

Up next, Irina and Saki were chosen to play. Shindou narrowed his eyes as he observed Saki from a TV.

'Inui Saki...' Shindou thought in interest and smirked. 'Don't let me down.'

A/N: It's pretty sad that the show doesn't really flesh out Saki besides the fact she liked cats. I mean aside from Irina, Saki doesn't seem that open to others, and we're not given any explanation for why that is to begin with. On top of that it never felt to me like Saki ever agreed with Irina's view of FC, and was just being a loyal friend carrying out Irina's wishes. So I wanted to go more into Saki as a character and her motivations and reasonings. I will admit Irina wasn't horribly handled in the show in this department, but I still thought they could have done better with her too. I know Masaya is starting to play the sport again, but I don't think he would enter the Fall Tournament. The guy just recently started to truly play, so it would be stupid if he just now enters a tournament this fast when he's been out of actually playing with Grav-Shoes until very recent chapter. Not to mention he is training Misaki to get stronger for the Fall Tournament, so naturaly all things considered he'd likely sit this out and support her and her friends. They've been training from the start while he's only been a coach up to the last chapter, so it feels wrong to let him enter when he hasn't even been training for this tournament, let alone playing fully until recently.


	7. Chapter 7

Discalimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.

Episode 12 rewrite:

Saki won her match with ease like Shindou, and with that she left with Irina. Mashiro and Satou then had their match. Mashiro had put up a better fight than she had before with Satou, but it still wasn't enough, and as such, Mashiro lost.

Misaki then faced Rika, which was very one-sided on Rika's part.

"And there you have it, Tobisawa wins in a brutal 20 to Ichinose's 2 points!" Minori announced.

Rika then flew down to Shindou and apologized for doing so bad.

"That's okay," Shindou gently said. "You'll just have to get stronger for the next time."

"Yes!" Rika said.

Shindou then turned his attention to Misaki after she flew down to her team, and watched her in interest. It's true that Misaki won very effortlessly, but it felt to him like she was holding back-like she wasn't really trying that hard against Rika. Shindou smiled at this, now even more excited to face her.

"Yes, up next everyone's favorite Flying Fish, Kurashina Asuka will face off against our reigning champion, Inui Saki!" Minori declared dramatically.

The two groups entered the booth, or to be precise, Masaya's group simply stayed due to having another match, while Saki and Irina entered their own booth.

"Don't let it go on for too long, Saki," Irina said in confidence.

"Understood," Saki said before flying up.

Shortly after, Asuka did the same. After a brief exchange between her and Saki, the match begun. Irina was surprised that Asuka actually was beating her to the first buoy with a Sonic Boost, so she ordered Saki to take a shortcut. Saki agreed and did as commanded. After Asuka caught up with her, Saki put the Birdcage in play as Irina ordered, but unlike before, Asuka seemed to be able to combat it.

"I can't believe it," Irina commented before her face became somewhat annoyed. "Saki, don't let her throw you off!"

So Saki tried to mix it up so to speak, in an attempt to confuse Asuka, but Asuka was much stronger than before, holding her own against her.

'It's different from before...she's enjoying this,' Saki noted in thought, curious at the change from when she last faced her.

As they stuck together, Saki felt a strange sensation in herself. Before she knew it, she attempted to touch Asuka, who dodged and took the chance to touch her back for another point. Those on ground were glad Asuka scored, minus Irina who was very displeased at Saki.

"Saki, what do you think you're doing!?" Irina asked, starting to get angry. "That kind of repulsive play has no place in our FC!"

Saki didn't reply, but if anyone could read her heart, they would discover quite a bit of pain.

"Inui-san?" Asuka asked, stopping and noticing the troubled look in her eyes.

"Something the matter?" Masaya asked, not knowing why she was saying that.

Asuka was too occupied with the look in Saki's eyes to hear him.

"I understand, Irina," Saki finally managed to say, hiding any hurt in her voice.

While Asuka worried for her, Saki tried to surpress the emotions taking place in herself and got more aggressive. Asuka responded and got more serious as well. Saki Managed to beat Asuka just once in a race to a buoy, thus she got one point. Finally, Irina could see the Birdcage was not working too well on Asuka as Asuka scored more and more points.

"Okay, unlock the balancers on your Avalon Grav-Shoes," Irina ordered.

"Roger, phase first, 50 percent unlock-" Saki started, but Irina cut in.

"No, 100%!" Irina said, annoyed at the Birdcage in her eyes being made a mockery of.

Saki was surprised that she wanted her to go complete full force, but she complied. Turning them off, the limitations of her Grav-Shoes ceased, and the wing gas particles constantly blowing out of the Grav-Shoes expanded to a larger size to compliment the fact this was a higher level of speed. Asuka was in complete awe.

"What!?" Masaya asked, and then looked at the computer and widening his eyes. "She turned off the limits on her Grav-Shoes!"

"That's crazy! What's she thinking, doing that in the middle of the match!?' Mashiro asked, mind boggled.

"Of course they would say that," Irina smugly said, overhearing Mashiro's outburst before looking at Saki. "Aoi attempted this very feat when we saw her in the air flying in a circle that long time ago. But we've managed to complete what she couldn't."

"Oh, interesting," Shindou grinned, watching elsewhere with Satou and Rika from a TV. "I never thought it was possible for anyone to reach such a level with their Grav-Shoes."

"This is the first time I've ever seen something like this!" Satou said in awe.

Rika stared at Inui in amazement. Inui then flew about, and proved way too fast for Asuka. Aoi couldn't believe it was possible for someone to control their Grav-Shoes to such a degree, as it was something even she failed to do in the past. Saki then started to rack up points, but Irina stopped her after she reached the same points as Asuka.

"That's enough," Irina said in a satisfactory voice. "Proceed on to Greensleaves. Show everyone just how beautiful you can be...Saki?"

Saki, by forcing herself after a few moments, started to brutally swipe at Asuka over and over again. However, before she started doing so, Asuka didn't miss the very brief sad look on her face. Finally after enduring so many rough swipes, Saki knocked her down with extra force. The result, Asuka was far too tired, so much so that the girl was losing her balance to stay in the air. Saki looked at Irina, who was smiling very contently. That made Saki's stomach ach: for she didn't enjoy playing in that way against Asuka. She could understand a few swipes, but that was taking it too far in her eyes. She had already done it in practice, but it wasn't something she liked. Of course, she didn't protest out of loyalty to her friend. Her pain only grew much deeper as Irina boasted, approving of such a move and the beauty it brings.

Saki flew down to Irina, as the timer just now was out, and since they were both tied, a 10 minute break was concluded and then the match would resume.

"Very splendid," Irina said, and then looked over at the other booth. "I can't say the same for her. Most likely, she doesn't have the strength to make it to the second half of this. What's the matter?"

Saki was facing the ground with a somewhat troubled expression, but perked up quickly and held in all her feelings.

"It's nothing," Saki said.

"Mmm, if you say so," Irina said, letting it drop.

At the other booth, Asuka had a small towel over her face as she panted, very out of breath and highly exhausted.

"Asuka," Misaki said with worry.

"Do you have any HP left?" Mashiro asked, applying a video game reference.

Asuka at first said nothing, but then stopped panting, though still very worn out. "Inui-san," she muttered.

"What is it?" Masaya asked.

"During that last exchange between us, before she started swiping at me," Asuka started, troubled. "She seemed so sad."

"What do you mean?" Misaki asked, but Asuka kept speaking.

"And that final swipe before this break, through that one strike, it felt as if Inui-san was in pain, that she was suffering," she said with a worried expression.

Aoi said nothing, but looked at Saki. It did seem like there was validity to Asuka's words. On first glance Saki seems fine, but she doesn't really seem happy either. Granted, Saki seemed like the type to not really show much emotion, but Aoi did get the feeling something was bothering her. She then looked back to Asuka as she spoke.

"I want to help her!" Asuka said with resolve.

"And how do you plan to do that?" Mashiro asked in a matter of factly tone. "She's got you beat in every way now!"

Masaya's eyes widened. "No way, I think I know what you're going to-" he started.

"Mmm, I want to fly to my full extent," Asuka finished for him. "To help Inui-san enjoy FC, I have to fly with her!"

The others were hesitant about this, but they ultimately decided to leave it in her hands if she really felt this strongly about it. As they all joined their hands with Asuka, Aoi stood behind the booth and smiled. Irina came over and boasted about how wonderful Aoi's FC is, but Aoi disagreed, and claimed if FC was all about controlling one's opponent, it couldn't have the name Flying Circus. This wore heavily at Irina's patience, but she kept herself composed, and stated they will see if she can still say that after the time is up.

Asuka flew up, still very tired. Saki went up with her, and was worried for the girl's condition. She looked very fatigued. In fact, Saki wanted to ask if she was feeling okay. Before she could even try to do it, Asuka looked at her with confidence. The girl was further surprised that Asuka could say she would fly with her this time.

'Why, why am I burning up,' Saki thought. 'It's just like before when I tried to touch her to knock her off balance.'

The match resumed, but Asuka flew out of control and slammed right into the water. The others worried, while Irina boasted smugly that she doesn't seem to have enough energy, shortly before being corrected by Saki that that wasn't the case. Emerging out of the water, Saki watched in amazement.

"Can't be, you-" Saki started.

"That's right, unlocked my balancers!" Asuka said with a confident look.

"Impossible, there's no way you can stay in control!" Irina said, finding it absurd she was doing this and assuming the girl hadn't practiced.

"Waaah!" Asuka spastically yelled as she flew all over the place. "Stop, s-stop!"

"Uh oh, Kurashina appears to have control issues! What went wrong!?" Minori asked, puzzled.

Back on ground, Masaya smiled nervously while sweat dropping.

"Eh?" Mashiro asked with twitched eyes and a "What the heck?" look on her face.

"That girl..." Misaki face-palmed, finding this embarrassing.

"Should have waited until she actually got them under control," Madoka said nervously.

"...Just put an end to this Saki," Irina said before getting very irritated. "What a joke this is!"

"Wait!" Saki said as a strange feeling welled up in her. "Permit me to face her without the balancers unlocked."

"What are you saying!?" Irina barked, her annoyance rising by the minute.

"I want to take her on as a dogfighter on even ground," Saki said.

"Saki," Irina said, surprised, as Saki never shows interest in a match. "Well, if you do that, it at least makes this a match worth playing. Very well, if that's what you really want."

So Saki turned them off, reducing the particles back to normal size. By this point, Asuka flew into the water, but managed to shut her balancers off. She then emerged back out of the water, feeling fatigued. She already felt tired, but the collision with the water took a lot out of her. But the one thing in Asuka's mind that was driving her on was she wanted to get Saki to have fun.

After a moment, the two clashed evenly, Saki scoring a point on her and Asuka doing the same to Saki.

Asuka then pulled away, leading Saki to go take a shortcut. Both then met near the buoy Saki took a shortcut to. Saki then managed to touch her back, putting the score in Saki's favor. As they clashed, Saki managed to get another point and Asuka the same. After Saki scored another point to Asuka's back, they both stopped for a moment, while Saki remained in the lead.

'She's really amazing!' Asuka thought, smiling at the girl.

'Again...that feeling,' Saki thought as she closed her eyes, not hearing Irina telling her to try attempting the Greensleave again. 'My body is burning up.'

"Inui-san!" Asuka called out. "Let's have a blast!"

"Have a...blast?" Saki asked. "I don't really understand."

"Then let me show you!" Asuka said and collided with her.

This fired Saki up. 'I want to beat her!" Saki thought, and chased after her.

"Saki, how long are you going to play in such disgrace!?" Irina asked in anger. "Stick to the Birdcage!"

"Forgive me, Irina." Saki stated, ignoring her order.

"Huh?" Irina asked, not sure what Saki meant by that, only to realize it when Saki started playing just like Asuka was over what Irina just commanded. "Saki, why?"

As they clashed back and forth and scored points, Saki was managing to keep herself in the lead by just one point. By now it was Asuka's 8 to Saki's 9. The others on ground were excited at the match and cheered Asuka on. As Saki grunted from Asuka touching her back and scoring, Asuka once again called out to her in the same loving sincere tone.

"Inui-san, let's have fun and fly together!" Asuka said with a smile and closed eyes.

Saki was astonished. This girl didn't even really know her, yet she was so sincere and kind, and above all, she just wanted to have fun.

'...Fun, together,' Saki thought with glazed eyes, then flew up with Asuka after smiling. "Yeah."

"I've never seen her beaming like this during a match before," Irina said, truly surprised: it was an aspect of Saki she never really sees.

"Inui-san's having fun," Misaki said, smiling.

"Asuka-senpai too," Mashiro said.

Asuka and Saki flew about with genuine smiles on their face. That pleased Asuka very much to see that Saki was enjoying this. Finally, Saki ended it by touching her back, but Asuka still retained the smile on her face, evident she was very happy.

"That settles it! After an insane match, Inui Saki has defeated Kurashina Asuka!" Minori declared as crowds watching from a TV roared in applause.

Saki stared at Asuka for a moment, emotionless, but then smiled at the girl before going down to Irina.

Irina didn't know what to say to Saki. It was astonishing to see Saki legitimately smiling in a match. That's never happened before, let alone Saki smiling very often.

"Mission complete," Saki said with no emotion.

"Y-yeah," Irina partly stuttered, and then went over to the other booth to Aoi. "What do you think? Do you still hold onto what you said? Despite what you say, people seem to be enjoying our FC."

"So you say," Aoi said, and then became somewhat annoyed. "True, people are starting to find your FC enjoyable, but, what you and Saki did just before the timer brake I will never condone. I've said it before, just controlling your opponent would make the sport unable to call itself Flying Circus. And what you did to Asuka can hardly be called FC. To put it simply, I don't agree with your way of FC. Others might, but I don't."

"I see," Irina said, a vein showing up on her face to emphasize how annoyed she was becoming. "You're really stubborn you know. But how long can you keep this up? So far we've proven our FC, but you haven't proven yours. Kurashina was your best player, yet she fell to us. Your chances are all but gone wouldn't you say?"

"Is that really so?" Aoi smirked.

"What?" Irina asked with narrowed eyes.

"You'll see what I mean soon enough," Aoi said. "Don't underestimate our players."

"All you can do is talk big, can't you?" Irina asked, finally starting to get a bit worked up that Aoi won't admit to their FC being good, but also became offended for another reason. "You know, I can't stand people like you who act as if just because we play the game in a less traditional way than everyone else, that our way of playing is wrong! Who do you think you are!?"

Aoi went silent for a moment, taking in consideration what was just said. "Yes, it's true that you're not cheating or anything, and I apologize for making it sound that way," she started. "But in what way does simply trapping someone to where they can't play against you at all reflect the freedom and fun of FC?"

"So instead of trying to come up with a tactic to combat us, you make excuses to try making us look bad!" Irina said, appalled, and disgust clear on her face. "I used to respect you, but not anymore!"

With that Irina walked away in anger, while Aoi focused on the girls and Masaya, who were just chatting together about how Asuka did.

'Is Kurashina's condition still part of my mistake back then?' Aoi thought, looking at a still fairly worn out Asuka, and then started pondering the things Irina said.

Meanwhile, Irina went back to Saki, though she was visibly annoyed.

"That Aoi is really stubborn," Irina said out loud with twitched eyes and a rather agitated face. "I can't wait, to see the look of surprise when she realizes how wrong she is."Let's go...Saki?"

Saki looked down, troubled, and it was very visible on her face. Looking up, Saki started to talk.

"Can we go somewhere in private?" Saki asked her. "I want to talk to you about some things."

"Eh?" Irina blinking in curiosity. "Sure, if you want."

A/N: I know some are probably wondering why Asuka couldn't control her balancers and lost. The thing is, Asuka throughout the tournament in the show was slowly unlocking more of it little at a time (they did have some moments where they show her doing that), which is why she finally got it under control by the last tournament round. However, this time they fought one another much earlier, meaning Asuka is nowhere near close enough at perfecting and mastering it in contrast to the show. Also, chances are Asuka wouldn't be as strong as she was on the show due to Misaki training intensely with Masaya this time, while Asuka mostly trains with people who are weaker than her (I know they don't really show her train with Masaya on the show, but I'm pretty sure she did, otherwise she couldn't possibly have gotten so strong by training with weaker people). I'm not saying she would do badly against Saki, but I don't think she would have won this time (put up a good fight, sure, but win, I doubt it). It always irked me that Aoi was acting in the show as if the Birdcage was unfair or wrong when it wasn't. There's really nothing wrong about the Birdcage. Just because it is a trap focused move doesn't make it wrong to use. It's another way of playing. I'll agree the Greensleaves was a bit much, but outside that there's nothing actually wrong about their playing style, nor does Aoi have the right to decide what determines FC as a whole for everybody. I really wish the show had addressed that and called Aoi out on it.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.

Episode 13:

Right now, the first day was over, so Masaya and co left the tournament grounds. Asuka by this time recovered, feeling much better.

"Sorry, I really goofed with my Grav-Shoes!" Asuka said nervously with her hands rubbing her head.

"We already told you before, it's fine," Masaya said. "You will get the balancers down soon enough."

"Anyway, senpai was amazing!" Mashiro said, giving an adoring expression. "But I feel a little bad for Rika."

"Right," Misaki said, enjoying the praise before looking at Masaya. "What did you think of me?"

Masaya tensed as he noticed everyone's eyes on him. "You were pretty good," he said.

"You're blushing," Madoka said, grinning.

"Shut up!" Masaya yelled, the statement making his cheeks redden even more.

"That's fine," Misaki said before looking at him with a seductive look. "Besides, I bet you couldn't take your eyes off of me."

"That's not-" Masaya couldn't talk straight because he was getting too flustered, which lead to the other girls laughing at him. "*Ahem* Asuka, I want you to practice for the rest of the day getting used to flying without those balancers limiting your Grav-Shoes. You saw what happened didn't you? Doing it at the time put you in great danger. That's why I'm saying, right now you need to try to learn to control yourself in that state."

"Yes!" Asuka said with full-on cheerfulness.

"Geez, it's nice to know you're so happy," Mashiro said with a sweat drop, the others also sweat dropping.

"But I got to make Inui-san smile!" Asuka said, even more happy than she just was. "That alone makes me glad."

Aoi looked at Asuka and thought back. Indeed, Saki was having fun with her. Aoi couldn't fully fathom what was going on in Saki's head, but it didn't feel like she really was on the same page as Irina either.

Elsewhere, once it grew dark, Irina was laying on a couch at an apartment she rented with Saki, and was in thought.

Flashback:

Irina went somewhere alone with Saki after the match with Asuka. "What is it that you wanted to talk about?" Irina asked, all the more curious since she wanted to speak in private.

"...You've changed," Saki finally starts letting out the feelings she's kept hidden in herself.

"Eh?" Irina asked, blinking. "What are you talking about? I'm myself-"

"Wrong," Saki started, to Irina's surprise. "When we were kids, you were so kind. You were so amazed at what Aoi did, as was I. You wanted to emulate what Aoi had done, and you were so earnest about it, and me too. We had fun with FC...but then one day you, you suddenly changed. You started to become bitter and hate the current FC. From then on, you were different. You stopped having fun and became so focused on wanting to prove Aoi's FC was the best. Why, why can't we go back to how you used to be before?"

"Saki," Irina said, at a loss for words for once. "Surely I'm not that different."

"Do you really believe that?" Saki asked with a now sad look. "Would the Irina I knew back then have ever thought of doing something like the Greensleaves? The Irina I knew would have never approved of such a thing, nor would she have insulted the sport she loved so much. When I faced Kurashina Asuka, for the first time in years, I had a lot of fun. It reminded me of the person you used to be, before you changed and grew to be bitter and so focused on your goal that even you don't see how it's been affecting you."

"But you've been with me the whole time," Irina said gently. "If you've felt this way, why didn't you tell me until now?"

"Because you're my precious friend," Saki said, gaining a slight smile. "I wanted to make you happy. I thought 'If I do as she says, will she go back to her old self afterwards?'. So I stayed by your side with that belief in mind."

"...Saki," Irina muttered in shock due to having no idea Saki harbored all of this.

"Sorry, but I just don't see eye to eye with you on this anymore compared to back when we were kids," Saki said with a troubled expression. "But I'm not going to leave you either, I'm sticking with you. Just like you are always by my side, I will always do the same for you. More than anything, I just want to make you happy."

Irina said nothing, having no idea what to say right now.

Flashback end.

Irina sighed, feeling down while her hands were behind her head. So many things were going through her head. The entire time, Saki held all of those feelings locked in her heart.

'Have I really...changed?' Irina thought. 'Am I really going about this correctly? And, Saki...she endured all this pain for my sake. Am I terrible for that?'

Irina stayed conflicted the entire night as this struggle started to take place.

Meanwhile at Misaki's place, she was looking outside at the stars from her window while Masaya was on the phone.

"Tomorrow is the final day of the tournament," Misaki said.

"Yeah," Masaya said. "How do you feel?"

"Excited," Misaki said. "Because I may get to face Inui or Shindou-san."

"That may be so," Masaya said. "Don't forget, we're all cheering you on."

"Mmm," Misaki said. "I'm going full-zipzapping tomorrow! I'll show Shindou my real strength! Say Masaya...after the tournament, maybe we could-"

"We could what?" Masaya asked.

"No, it's nothing," Misaki said. "Haaaa, I'm going to eat an extra pile of Udon before tomorrow's final day."

"Just don't eat too much," Masaya chuckled. "You're going to need all you've got for tomorrow."

"Yeah," Misaki said. "Goodnight, try not to think about me too much."

"I won't!" Masaya said, flustered while Misaki giggled.

The next day, the gang flew to the tournament. Masaya had grown used to Misaki keeping an arm around his like this. She claimed it 'helps to wake her up'. At first it flustered him, but now he'd grown used to it.

"It's like senpai uses him to recharge her morning batteries!" Mashiro said in annoyance.

"More like she's trying to make excuses so she can be on him like that," Madoka said with amusement. "That Tobisawa, she really does do as she pleases."

"Right," Asuka said amusedly, watching the two.

They watched as Misaki, who was clearly not in her usual morning self due to all the udon she ate, smile with contentment and hum while flying with Masaya. Getting to the tournament, they landed and went to look at the brackets.

"So I'm not against Shindou," Misaki said with disappointment.

"Be patient, you'll get the chance," Masaya said. "For now, just concentrate on defeating your opponent."

So the first match got underway, and Misaki layed waste to the person, who hardly scored on her.

Elsewhere watching via TV, Irina narrowed her eyes.

Flashback:

"But Kurashina was your best player, so it seems you've lost," Irina boasted.

"Do you really think so?" Aoi asked with a smirk.

"What?" Irina narrowed her eyes.

"You'll see what I mean soon enough," Aoi said surely. "Don't underestimate our players."

End of flashback.

Mashiro had been defeated yesterday, and she was clearly weaker than Asuka. And right now, Misaki wasn't really breaking so much as a sweat. Dare say, Misaki wasn't giving it her all. Piecing it together, she discerned that it must be Misaki that Aoi was hinting at. The thought of Aoi was really grating on her nerves though, as she was still angry about her trying to decide what determines FC as a whole. However, this quickly left her mind as she became preoccupied with Saki's words. In fact, Irina had been very quiet, which worried Saki.

"Sorry, I'm okay," Irina said in a positive voice while Saki made no reply.

From here on, Shindou, Saki and Misaki easily won their matches. Satou at one point faced off against Inui, but lost fairly easily to the Birdcage. Finally the best 4 were announced, and Misaki won hers. As she landed down, Shindou and his team walked over to their booth.

"It's a shame you haven't been given any challenge so far," Shindou said.

"The same can be said for you," Misaki smiled.

Shindou chuckled. "I guess so," he said before staring at her with interest. "I intend to win the next match. I can't go losing before I even get the chance to face you."

"Then you better not lose!" Misaki said confidently. "Because I want to face you again too!"

Satou and Rika watched on at their friendly rivalry.

"Too bad that's not gonna happen!" Irina called out from the other booth, causing everyone to face her. "Because we don't plan to lose."

"Of course I expect that," Shindou said before eying Saki. "Inui Saki. You may have won the last time, but if you think that Birdcage will work on me now, you're very mistaken."

Saki blinked for a moment, the statement putting her on guard. "Then let us see it when the match begins, Shindou," Irina said confidently. 'He's bluffing, what could he possibly do against us? Has he already forgotten what happened last time?'

"Just you wait, Shindou will prove it!" Satou proclaimed with a clenched hand while Rika laughed nervously.

"Good luck," Misaki said to Shindou.

"I don't know how much stronger you've got, but you're going to need everything," Masaya muttered more quietly. "You saw it too right? What she did?"

Shindou narrowed his eyes, and then smiled with assurance. "Don't worry, I told you guys, I don't plan to lose this," he said with a grin that he only has when he really wants to play. Masaya had a possible idea of what he just meant, but he didn't say anything and left it at that. "Watch closely Hinata-kun, at the strength I've reached to one day face you."

So they left after those words while Shindou focused on Saki. Once more, Irina became occupied with her own thoughts of Saki's words.

"Irina?" Saki asked emotionlessly.

"Huh? O-oh sorry," Irina said and snapped out of her daze. "This shouldn't take too long. Implement the Birdcage and he should be done like last time. Then we can move on and face Tobisawa."

"Roger," Saki said before flying up to the starting point, Shindou also doing the same.

"Well, this is it," Satou said in anticipation.

"Can he really win?" Rika asked, having doubts. "As long as Inui has that level of speed, how could anyone match her at all?"

"It appears Ichinose has more common sense than the rest of their team does," Irina smugly smiled, having heard her.

"I've been looking forward to this," Shindou said, getting Saki's attention. "Last time you threw me off with that Birdcage of yours. However, I'm going to shatter it immediately this time."

"Assuming I'll let you," Saki said, getting a little fired up from seeing he was that confident that the Birdcage wouldn't work on him again.

Shortly after, the match begun. Saki was eager to test his words, so she immediately put the Birdcage in play.

"Here we go, Inui starts right off the bat with her classic Birdcage as usual!" Minori declared. "Having had a hard time before, what will Shindou do!?"

At quick speed, Shindou went past her to the first buoy, but Saki caught up. To her shock, he turned around and then swiped her away with such fast speed, then did it again when Saki tried to stay near him again.

"Woah, what has been very effective until now is now failing!" Minori yelled. "Shindou is countering the Birdcage with the utmost ease!"

Masaya and co simply watched inside a food shop with a TV.

"Not bad," Aoi said, impressed.

"Awesome, he's picking it apart like it's nothing to him!" Misaki exclaimed.

"Talk about a monster!" Mashiro said in surprise.

'But, that means nothing in the long run,' Masaya thought cautiously. 'Inui still has being able to unlock her Grav-Shoes to amazing capacity. If he doesn't have an answer for that, he's going to lose regardless!'

"Shindou-san," Asuka said, happy at his improvement.

"That's just like him," Madoka said. "He quickly adapts himself and learns from what he had trouble against."

Back at the booths. "Good job President!" Satou said with satisfaction in her tone.

Normally Irina would be frustrated at the Birdcage being toyed with like this, but she was too focused on her own thoughts that she wasn't paying attention to the match.

Saki made an angry expression. The Birdcage was something she worked her butt off to perfect for many years, and to see someone who can just decimate it so easily, really upset her. Due to her frustration, she started playing a bit sloppy. Her persistence in trying to get him with it only served to give Shindou more points. Finally accepting that the Birdcage isn't working at all, Saki begun to panic.

"What should I do, Irina?" Saki asked through the earpiece. "Irina?"

"Huh? Ah take a shortcut!" Irina quickly said: she only now realized that Shindou had scored a few points and was in the lead while Saki hadn't scored at all.

So Saki did so while Shindou watched in thought. 'Strange,' he thought. 'Her overall performance is bizarre.'

"What are you standing around for? Get moving!" Satou ordered in annoyance.

"Something's not quite right," Shindou said seriously. "I'm going to verify it."

Shindou pursued her, and tried getting her to engage him in dogfighting. With a little swipe, it fired up Saki, and she smiled and started engaging him like she did Asuka. But it wasn't just that. As they kept clashing, he noted Saki was going to give up the dogfight, but then engaged him as fast as she was about to adandon it: He didn't know that Irina was having difficulty concentrating due to her own thoughts distracting her. As such, Saki herself was more stressed because Irina was being inconsistent with her orders.

Right now, Saki had no points, while Shindou was at 6.

"What's going on?" Masaya asked, shocked at how bad Saki was doing. "True Shindou overpowered her Birdcage, but there's no way she is this weak."

"Her movements are very frantic," Aoi said with a finger to her chin in thought. "But why?"

"Maybe she's just tired," Misaki guessed.

"Impossible, she flew around at crazy speed yesterday and it didn't do very much, so it can't be that," Mashiro said.

"Mashiro's right, this is strange," Masaya said with folded arms as he watched.

"This has been very one-sided!" Minori said in urgency. "Shindou has been dominating the entire match. With such an overwhelming lead, how will Inui come back from this brutal onslaught!?"

Shindou stopped, annoyed at her performance right now. "Do you seriously plan to keep doing this!?" he snapped, infuriated. "The way you've been playing has been abysmal at best! Where's the person who fought Kurashina!? I thought you were truly something, but now you're playing so sluggishly! Wake up!"

Saki didn't reply, but looked at Irina and finally spoke. "Calm down, Irina," Saki said very gently as Irina looked up with sweat, evident she was under some stress. "Listen, we're up against a really strong opponent, and I can't do this without you."

"You..." Irina started in a touched voice.

"Whatever is on your mind, please be at ease," Saki said, keeping a soothing voice. "If you keep this up, we're going to lose."

Irina took a few breaths to calm herself, and closed her eyes.

'She's right,' Irina thought. 'If I want to find an answer to my questions, I have to stop hesitating. I...I want to prove our FC! And to reach those conclusions, I-no we will find our answer through FC!' Irina then opened her eyes and smiled confidently. "Okay, go to 100%! Holding back at this point would be akin to suicide."

"I got it," Saki said smiled, relieved to hear Irina back to her old self. "Balancers, unlock!"

"Oh?" Shindou said, getting excited. "You've finally decided to let loose."

"Now what's he going to do!?" Satou asked.

"It's all well and good that she's going all out, but the score is still a pretty big difference," Aoi pointed out.

"That shouldn't be a problem," Asuka said with anticipation. "Inui-san will catch up."

"You're sure confident about that," Madoka said.

Saki wasted no time, and overwhelmed Shindou with how crazy fast she was. He could hardly defend himself, which lead to Saki racking up points by touching his back multiple times. Before long, she was tied with him at 6.

"What a fantastic turn around!" Minori yelled. "What looked like a dead end has went full circle! Inui-san with such strength has brought this to a tie in moments!"

Saki then stopped, assuming Irina wanted it to stay at a tie for the time break.

"Good job," Irina complimented her, but before she was going to say do the Greensleaves, she stopped, recalling how Saki really didn't like to do it. "Do you want to just engage in dogfighting?"

"Yes," Saki said, smiling. "I feel like before in Kurashina's match."

'Again, she's smiling,' Irina thought in astonishment. "Alright, do as you like."

Before Saki turned her limiters back on to give him a fair chance, Shindou stopped her. "You don't need to lower your strength," he said with a hand thrust out to her.

"Eh?" Saki asked in curiosity.

A smile formed on his lips. "President, what are you up to?" Satou asked. "In fact, why are you still so full of confidence? Can't you see that she's got you outmatched in that state? Even if you tried to go to another buoy, she would intercept you quickly. As much as I really hate to say it, maybe you should give up."

Shindou didn't answer, but turned off the limits on his Grav-Shoes moments after Satou's words of doubt. Saki smiled at this, having deduced he was able to do this just by the fact that he had not lost any confidence even when she had the clear utter edge before this.

"No way!" Misaki said in shock.

"He did it!?" Masaya said, not expecting that from him so soon.

"Since when could he do that!?" Satou asked in awe.

"Y-yeah!" Rika said in awe as well.

"But can you even stay in control?" Irina taunted. "Don't tell me this is going to be an embarrassment like it was with Kurashina."

However, immediately, she was proven wrong as Shindou flew to the next buoy, earning another point.

"Incredible, he's in complete control," Saki said and then went after him by going to the next buoy.

Shindou looked at Masaya for a few moments. 'When I saw Inui unlock her Grav-Shoes to such a level, I realized that we're all able to do so. So I secretly trained yesterday after going home. It was difficult, but I was able to master it by late night. It may be arrogant of me to think this, but I guess I am 'King of Kings'. I don't mind praising myself. I revealed this to prove to you how I intend to match Inui. Now that you've seen it Hinata-kun, get stronger and reach this level so that we can have our long awaited fight one day!'

The two engaged in a dogfight, and Saki managed to get the upper hand for a moment and score a point against him. Now Shindou and Saki were at 7 to 7. As excitement welled up in Saki and Shindou, they charged at each other over and over.

"Good, but what about this!?" Shindou asked, performing an Air Kick Turn.

Saki dodged this and went up to knock him off balance, but Shindou chained his Air Kick Turn into a Sonic Boost.

"Th-that's my-" Masaya started, at a loss for words.

"I'm guessing he picked that right up from watching you practice with Tobisawa," Aoi theorized.

"That Shindou is pretty shrewd," Misaki said.

"But doesn't he already know it?" Madoka asked Aoi. "He knew what it was when Masaya performed it against Misaki."

"He didn't, he just knew about the move," Aoi said. "I guess he felt he needed to learn it after seeing that Masaya knows it. When he challanges Masaya, he wants to be prepared for an even playing field."

Shindou now had scored a point by touching Saki's back, but Saki responded by using her speed to knock him off balance and touch his back for a point, evening the score yet again.

"That's what I was waiting for!" Shindou said with excitement. "Such a match is just too fun!"

"Fun, mmm," Saki nodded, enjoying this.

'Fun, huh,' Irina slowly thought as flashbacks occurred in her mind.

She thought back to how she and Saki just played FC together with full joy. They didn't care about winning and losing, and simply laughed together. Yes, a time when Irina didn't develope hate for FC or become obsessed with her own goal. As the events played in Irina's mind, her eyes glazed as feelings of remorse crept into her heart. It finally clicked for her. It was like Saki said, she had changed. Looking at herself, she came to realize she really was full of herself, bitter and used methods that she wouldn't have before, all for the sake of proving Aoi's FC wasn't wrong to do. Irina watched Saki, whom had suffered so much, yet despite how she felt, she never left Irina's side. As everything finally hit Irina directly into the heart, she looked at Saki and Shindou who were just having a great time, and smiled.

"Look at me, here I thought the current FC was a joke," Irina muttered under her breath as a tear slipped from her eyes. "Yet...all I feel is joy when I watch them right now. It's, so beautiful."

After a few more clashes, Shindou roared out "This is the ennnnd!" before touching her back.

Irina closed her eyes, but she seemed happy. "So we lost huh," she said.

A/N: I would assume that Irina holds Saki's opinions above all else. I mean we saw how when Saki practiced on the show, that Irina did worry for her safety, and that Saki enjoying the current FC was a big reason why Irina started liking it too. So it does seem to imply that Irina values Saki above even her own goals, and that she would very much consider any of Saki's objections. It would have been nice if the show had shown more of their friendship instead of constantly making it only about Irina's goal.


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Kanata.

Episode 14:

The bracket board showed Saki's name vanish off while Shindou's name moved forward up to the final marker next to Misaki.

"Shortly, Shindou, the 'King of Kings' will face Tobisawa for the championship title!" Minori yelled in anticipation. "Please don't miss this!"

Misaki and Shindou were in their respective booths, grinning at each other. "How do you feel, facing Shindou this time?" Masaya asked now that they've seen just how much stronger he was.

"To be honest, I'm kind of scared," Misaki admitted. "He's able to control his Grav-Shoes to the same degree that Inui-san can."

"Misaki," Masaya muttered.

"But, I'm still happy," Misaki said, looking at him. "It was because I lost to him that I realized my own weaknesses. And, you were the one who pulled me up when I had given up on myself, and helped me to get as strong as I am now. I'm going to go full zipzap-that's my brand of FC!"

Masaya smiled. "You were the one who inspired me to fly again in FC," he said to her. "When I saw how you were moving forward, I realized I need to do the same and be strong just like you. Thank you."

The two smiled at each other while Mashiro groaned, but then couldn't help but smile herself. Madoka made a noise of amusement, but liked the heartwarming sight too. Misaki then flew up to the starting point, as did Shindou.

"Here's to a good match, Shindou-san," Misaki said in a friendly taunting voice.

"Thank you, I've been waiting for this moment," Shindou said while staring her down in anticipation. "Throughout this tournament, you've been using the most basic of strength to win. I could tell from how you played that you were holding back considerably. To put it simply, you've become very electrifying."

"You're pretty good yourself, mastering your Grav-shoes to the level Inui-san has," Misaki complimented. "That was a surprise."

"I guess," Shindou chuckled and then got a more serious face, but still smiled. "I look forward to it, your true performance."

"Then I better not disappoint!" Misaki said confidently.

Saki and Irina watched somewhat near the booths with a TV in anticipation, while everyone in general watched. In a few moments, the signal went off, to which Misaki and Shindou flew forward very quickly.

"She's really fast!" Irina commented.

'I knew it, she was holding back on purpose for when she faces me,' Shindou thought. "Now then, I suppose I better test her."

As he swiped at her very fast, Misaki dodged it. He smiled at this, she definitely had improved. Shindou managed to knock her off balance, but as he moved in to touch her back, Misaki moved one of her hands behind her head, which touched Shindou's hand before he could touch her back. The result, Misaki responded by knocking him off balance while he was perplexed at what she just did.

"Hmm, she really has changed," Satou acknowledged with her hands to her hips.

"You mean to say, she wasn't even taking me seriously!?" Rika asked, shocked with clasped hands.

"It seems so," Satou said.

"Look at that! Despite Shindou's strength, Tobisawa proves to be on equal ground unlike last time!" Minori stated.

When Shindou opened his eyes, he gasped as Misaki touched his back for a point, taking the lead. Shindou got more pumped up, and aggressively knocked her off balance and touched her back. But Misaki used the impact to help her towards the buoy. He then decided to take a shortcut seeing as she was already nearing the first buoy. Satou understood this, so she didn't protest to it. After taking the shortcut, he carefully waited for Misaki. The score was Misaki 2 to Shindou's 1.

"Well, are you going to run away from me like you did in the last tournament?" Misaki taunted, clearly wanting to dogfight.

"Afraid not!" Shindou said in a hyped voice, accepting the challenge.

Many clashes and swipes were exchanged between the two. Even when he tried to confuse Misaki by flying unpredictably, she stuck with him like glue.

"Let's keep zipzapping, Shindou-san!" Misaki said, not letting up. "Haaaaa!"

Shindou grunted, and dodged her attempt to touch him, and in a burst of speed touched her back, bringing the score to a tie. Misaki then did an Air Kick Turn and flew right at him, but he dodged it.

"What!?" Shindou exclaimed in surprise as Misaki chained that miss into another Air Kick Turn, giving her enough time to score again on his back, giving her the lead.

"How's that?" Misaki asked with confidence.

'It's different from Kurashina's,' Shindou thought. 'Kurashina was able to perform many of them, but there was always a delay, and it burned her out. Tobisawa on the other hand is able to chain her own miss with it into another one in an instant, ensuring that it does not miss its target. You could call it a 'Homing Air Kick Turn'.'

Shindou quit holding back and pulled out some pro moves. Performing the same move he used against Asuka, he quickly backed away down to the water, and then flew up.

"Below you!" Masaya warned.

"I know!" Misaki, and blocked his hit: this left her defenseless, so he took the chance and touched her back, putting him 3 to her 3.

Misaki adandoned this chase and used a Sonic Boost to get out of it to another shortcut. "Tobisawa suddenly moves forward with a large burst of Speed!" Minori yelled.

"Sonic Boost huh?" Shindou said, impressed. "But even speed like that..."

Masaya kept quiet, worried that Shindou was going to unlock his balancers at any moment. "Calm down," Aoi said, getting his attention. "True when the Grav-Shoes are unlocked to such capacity that it seems impossible to do anything against it. But, there is more to matches then sheer speed, right?"

Time passed, and now Shindou and Misaki had 5 points each. Misaki and Shindou now collided with an intense swipe, both having serious expressions due to how strong the other was. At one point they tried to get the other off balance, but both dodged each other's swipes leaving the two at a standstill and panting a bit.

"These two haven't let up since the match started!" Minori declared. "They're giving each other a run for their money!"

"Yes, good job Misaki!" Masaya said.

"Great!" Mashiro cheered for Misaki, glad.

Aoi wasn't as cheerful, knowing this was about to get more serious. Irina and Saki watched from the TV still.

"Tobisawa is pretty good, just like Aoi said," Irina admitted. "But, how exactly can she win this when he can do what you can Saki?"

"Mmm," Saki said, thinking Shindou was going to win as soon as he went full force.

"President, it's time you stopped playing in that surpressed state!" Satou ordered.

"Well, Tobisawa-kun is quite the interesting girl, It'd be a shame to have to resort to it," Shindou said but then closed his eyes. "Very well. This is quite fun, but it's time I went to full strength!"

Misaki gasped, realizing what he just indicated. After unlocking them, he flew around her very very fast, and she couldn't keep up with the movements.

"That's unfair!" Mashiro said in annoyance while pouting.

"Quick, do whatever it takes and get out of there!" Masaya urged.

"Roger!" Misaki said, but he blocked any attempt to take a shortcut.

"I won't let you!" Shindou said seriously, and started racking up a few points, putting him in the lead.

"Having proven too strong even for Inui to beat, Shindou dominates Tobisawa with such incredible speed!" Minori said. "What will she do in this predicament!?"

He stopped, giving Misaki time to catch her breath.

"Misaki, stay calm and follow my orders," Masaya said in a quiet tone. "He's fast alright, but I think I've figured out a few chinks so to speak in his new strength."

After a few moments of private exchange between the two, Misaki responded "Roger!" and faced Shindou with confidence. "What's wrong, are you afraid to engage me?"

"Who said anything like that?" Shindou taunted in a friendly way, and tried to knock her off balance.

"Now!" Masaya ordered.

Misaki grunted and tried to swipe him, but he quickly avoided and got behind her. Misaki tried to quickly turn around, to which he then went behind her again. Although this consisted and Misaki was getting hit over and over, Shindou almost felt as if she was wanting him to.

'What's going on here?' Shindou wondered. 'She's not even trying to fight me anymore.'

She then smiled. "So that's how it is," Misaki said confidently, doing as Masaya said.

"You!" Shindou yelled, charging at her, but at point blank range, Misaki carefully swiped him. "Wha-" he was hit in the back by her, rising Misaki up another point. "How? It's impossible that you could-"

"Then let me show you, that nothing is impossible!" Misaki said, charging at him, but he dodged and flew at her. "Just as I thought!"

Immediately, Misaki reacted and swiped him off balance, touching his back for a point. Now she was in the lead. Shindou finally started to roar with the utmost seriousness he only reserves when he's being pushed to his full extent.

"Keep it up!" Masaya encouraged.

"Right!" Misaki said positively.

"Misaki-chan's so cool!" Asuka said in admiration.

"Of course!" Mashiro said happily.

"I see you've found another way to fight it," Aoi said.

"At first I just believed Misaki wouldn't stand a chance when I saw Shindou and Saki's level of skill," Masaya admitted. "But by watching his pattern and speed, I see that it does have some weak points."

"Like what?" Madoka asked with interest.

"Well for starters, notice how Shindou can't stop himself right away when he goes that fast," Masaya said.

"Now that you mention it..." Mashiro said thoughtfully, seeing how he did seem to not be able to stop immediately even though he tried to.

"Furthermore," Masaya continued on. "Although Shindou is fast, if you can read his overall pattern, it makes it not as hard to anticipate where he'll strike. More importantly, just because you're fast doesn't make you immune from getting knocked off balance. As long as you observe a person's movements carefully, you can find a chink in their armor-nothing is perfect here. Anything can be as refined as can be, but it is not without a weakness."

"Then what about when she was being hit over and over?" Madoka asked him.

"That was all according to our plan," Masaya said. "I needed Misaki to fake engage, but the real motive was to watch his flying patterns. By analyzing it, we've figured out how he plays in this new state. As such, we now have a chance."

"Incredible!" Saki said, legitimately amazed.

"She, she's able to take him on at that level!?" Irina exclaimed in awe.

The other people watching via TV watched Misaki with amazement at what they were seeing. It was crazy that this whole balancer concept suddenly revealed itself thanks to Saki, but Misaki was holding her own without needing to unlock hers.

"Tobisawaaaaa!" Shindou roared, unleashing the utmost max of his strength and charging at her with an intense swipe.

"Shindou-saaaan!" Misaki roared just as serious, and swiped at him.

Both flew back from this, but Shindou recovered very fast and flew behind her.

"Is this the end?" Madoka asked with worry.

Just before he touched her, Misaki suddenly spun behind him incredibly fast and touched his back.

"That was-" Shindou started.

"Blaster Roll," Misaki grinned.

Masaya smiled as she started relentlessly trying to hit Shindou, who was dodging easily, but Shindou was growing very tired: for the speed of the Grav-Shoes was severely starting to deplete his stamina. Since he didn't have enough time to practice very much after mastering the balancers, he wasn't used to such insane speeds for this long, and now he was paying the price.

"President, what went wrong!?" Satou asked, but Shindou was too tired to give a reply.

'Looks like I have only enough energy for one more move,' Shindou thought. "Tobisawa, this will be my final attack against you!"

"Come!" Misaki smiled confidently, having fun.

"As you wish!" Shindou said, putting all his strength into one big Sonic Boost. "This is the end!"

At that moment, Misaki thought about Masaya. 'I too will put my all into this one move-the both of us will!' she thought.

Misaki did an Air Kick Turn, though much slower than Shindou's move. However, as soon as Shindou was about to collide to get her off balance, Misaki suddenly canceled the Air Kick Turn in mid dodge, and chained it to Masaya's Sonic Boost, ending the match in Misaki's victory.

"T-that settles it!" Minori yelled in awe. "After an explosive battle, Tobisawa has defeated Shindou and gained the title of champion!"

The crowds roared, excited at Misaki's victory.

"She did it!" Mashiro said in excitement.

"Yes!" Asuka said, happy.

"I'm impressed," Irina said. "She beat him without even needing to master her Grav-Shoes to the level he did."

"Tobisawa...Misaki," Saki muttered with interest.

"Did she fire you up?" Irina asked. "Perhaps we'll get the chance to face her in the next tournament. Sounds fun, doesn't it?"

"Mmm," Saki said, a smile forming on her lips.

"That was splendid, I completely lost," Shindou said humbly. "But I'll win next time!"

"I don't intend to lose either!" Misaki said in a friendly way, shaking hands with him.

"Alright, thank you for fulfilling my dream, Misaki!" Shion suddenly yelled, tearing up.

"...Onii-chan, when did you get here?" Madoka asked, speechless and sweat dropping, as were the others.

"I'm tired," Misaki said landing down to Masaya and co.

"Then how does extra Udon sound?" Mashiro asked, which perked up Misaki tenfold.

"Udon, and extra!" Misaki said spastically.

Masaya laughed nervously but smiled at her. "Good job," he said.

"Right!" Misaki said proudly, before facing him.

"What?" Masaya blinked as she stared: the next thing he knew, Misaki had thrown her arms around him and pulled him into a kiss.

Mashiro had an eyeless expression along with her hands holding near her cheeks while she had an open mouth. Asuka had an expression reserved for when she's anticipating something, evidence she was really into the scene. Madoka and Shion stood totally speechless, but their dropped jaws indicated they were totally caught off guard at her action towards him.

Masaya stood planted in place, unable to focus his thoughts as she kissed him. His cheeks though were very red. After she parted, Masaya managed to ask something.

"Wh-why did you-" Masaya stuttered, totally red cheeks.

"Hmm? I can't kiss the guy I like?" Misaki casually asked.

"EH!?" Masaya exclaimed, complete and utterly thrown off guard.

At the other booth, Rika and Satou watched on in anticipation. "A-an unexpected development!" Satou said, having seen it.

"Y-yes!" Rika said with red cheeks.

As Misaki smiled at him innocently, Masaya cracked a smile. "It's fine," he said. "I like you too."

Misaki gave him a toothy grin and linked her arm with his. "I'm starving for some udon," she said. "And you're joining me, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Masaya said.

"Then what are we waiting for!?" Asuka asked with excitement. "Udon it is!"

"Yeah!" They all said with fists in the air, besides Aoi of course.

As they left, Aoi stayed due to seeing Irina approach her. "I've always wanted to perfect what you started so long ago because I wanted your approval and admired you," Irina started with a guilty expression. "But, now I realize, I lost sight of myself, and forgot that FC is supposed to be fun and bring joy to others. Was my way of FC...truly wrong?"

"No," Aoi started, looking out at the sea. "You were just trying to create your own path that you believed in. I was wrong to antagonize your way of FC. It's just another way to play. Also, knowing that it will cause FC to evolve again with the concept of unlocking balancers, puts my worries to ease. Of course, you might need to do something about the move you used against Kurashina."

"Mmm, I know," Irina said. "Saki and I intend to redo or do away with our Greensleave. I promise, to perfect our Birdcage to an even better Flying Circus way."

Aoi smiled, but left these words as she left. "Your match against Shindou, was pretty fun," she said.

Irina went wide eyed, deeply happy at being acknowledged.

"Irina," Saki said, as Irina suddenly faced and hugged her, which made Saki blink.

"Thank you, for always being with me," Irina said gently. "And I'm sorry for how I was all these years."

Saki's eyes glazed, and then she closed her eyes and hugged Irina back, smiling. After they let go, Irina continued.

"Now let's go home, and get even stronger," Irina said, to which Saki nodded. "Coming to participate in these tournaments was an experiance."

Later on:

Misaki let her Grandmother know of her and Masaya's relationship.

"I see, so you and Masaya are together," Misaki's Grandmother told her. "I think that's wonderful!"

Misaki smiled. "I'm going to bed," she said. "Goodnight."

Once Misaki went to her room and fell asleep, a potrait was on her desk. The picture showed the gang taking a picture together. But Misaki had linked an arm with Masaya and smiled widely as she held the trophy in another hand.

Life returned to normal, as things went back to their everyday life. Now that the tournament was over, Masaya weared the FC clothes Misaki bought for him. For he was no longer just their coach, but an active player on the team. Since Masaya and Misaki were a couple now, it was a bit awkward for Mashiro at first as to how she should greet Misaki overall since she can't be as affectionate as before: the girl tended to overdo it. But she eventually got used to being more balanced at it. Now Masaya was taking part in preparing for the tournament along with his team. This time around, he planned to enter his first tournament in years.

A/N: I'll be doing one more chapter (an OVA-ish one).


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I don't own Ao No Kanata.

OVA Special:

Two weeks after the FC Fall Tournament, a group of FC scientists were in a lab behind a glass window. A person on the other side was wearing Grav-Shoes, but not just any typical Grav-Shoes. This was a prototype Grav-Shoe. A female scientist in a white lab coat was preparing to test them.

"Energy levels stable!" A male scientist said professionally as he moved a switch upwards in the room above, increasing the Grav-Shoes' operation stability.

"No problems with particle expansion!" another male scientist declared. "There are no abnormalities with the link. Okay, you're good to go!"

"Roger that!" a female scientist stated: she was wearing the new Grav-Shoes and flew forward with the balancers unlocked. "Yes, so far so good, now let's try a few sharp turns!"

Flying about very quickly and making quick turns in succession, the Grav-Shoes still operated properly.

"Great, it really works chief!" a female scientist stated behind the glass next to the person in charge of the project. "With this-"

"Yeah, FC can evolve even more with this new technology we developed," he said, very pleased with the results. "Of course this is just a prototype. Now it's time we start working on the real ones."

Weeks later, Misaki was practicing with Masaya. The condition for this one specifically is he wanted Misaki to use her newly mastered balancers against his own. True to being very gifted at FC, he mastered it very quickly after the Tournament ended. With some practice by herself, Asuka mastered hers not too long after. Misaki just recently mastered it herself, and was facing him in a practice match.

"Naive!" Masaya declared, touching her with a palm, knocking her off balance, but Misaki recovered quickly and charged him.

"Man it's hot out here," Madoka commented, watching the two flying in the air while fanning her face with a hand. "But he sure is training pretty hard lately."

"Coach wants to face Shindou-san," Asuka said. "He told me during one of our practice matches."

"Of course, he wants to give Shindou the match he's always wanted," Aoi said.

"It's hard to believe he was so lazy before joining our team," Mashiro said, but then smiled. "But I'm glad to see he's changed."

"Same here," Aoi said. "And to think that guy was so insistent about not playing way back then."

The next morning, Masaya woke up after feeling something press down on him. Misaki was sitting on top of him with her knees, and her hands were on his body. And to top it off, Misaki had a welcoming smile on her face.

"...What are you doing?" Masaya asked with a sweetdrop.

"I don't know what you mean," Misaki started with a purposeful clueless face before inching her face close to his. "Am I not allowed to come in here and wake by boyfriend up? Anyways...Masaya, why don't we sleep in a little."

"Cut that out!" Masaya said, looking away with annoyance while his cheeks turned red.

"Nope," Misaki said, grabbing his cheek and turning his face back to hers as her look turned seductive. "You snuck away the last time, so now it's time for my 'compensation'."

"W-wait-mmmph!" Masaya panicked, but true to Misaki, when she says she will do something, she does it.

As the makeout grew intense, before anything could progress farther, Mashiro's stuttering sounds could be heard by his door, gaining both their attention. Though Misaki seemed casual as if it was no big deal, Mashiro freaked.

"W-W-WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING SO EARLY!?" Mashiro yelled so loud the area shook, and after they both sat down on the bed, Mashiro paced in front of the bed. "Listen listen! You two need a sense of balance!"

Masaya laughed nervously, but Misaki spoke. "What's the harm-" she started.

"I'm especially talking to you!" Mashiro pointed at her in panic. "Look, it's fine that you're a couple and all, but slow it down! Geez!"

"Yeah yeah," Misaki said uncaringly, making Mashiro send her a really strong glare. "As if the girl who walked in the house without permission has any right to say anything about us, you pervert."

"You're wrong, y-you're wrong, that was-" Mashiro stuttered, not sure how to retort this. "Anyway, slow it down and let's go!" Mashiro then sighed. 'Goodness, do I have to be the mediator with these two for now on?'

So after Masaya got ready, he left with the two of them. "Come on now, you can't stay mad like this forever," Masaya said nervously to the grumpy looking Mashiro, but he jolted with sweet as she gave him a mean glare in response.

"Oh right Mashiro...a small part of your panties was showing in there when you were going bonkers," Misaki said to add even more insult to Mashiro.

"...Eh? NOOOOOOO! Masaya-senpai saw them-" Mashiro screamed.

"I did not!" Masaya yelled at her, and then yelled at Misaki. "And why did you give her more ideas!?"

And so ends quite the eventful morning. Continuing on, the three made it to school, with Mashiro staying red cheeked and quiet the entire time.

"Tehee, I think she's more entertaining when she's so embarrassed like this," Misaki chuckled.

"Yeah, except you overdid it," Masaya said with a sweat drop. 'And this isn't the first time my morning has been a living hell! After we returned to school, Misaki made my school life not so fun. By being so affectionate with me in public, I became the center of attention from a lot of people in school. It died down, but my head still partly hurts from having to deal with that many people throwing questions at me left and right for days. All the while she basked in bragging about me as her boyfriend when people came up to her.'

Once they got to school, Mashiro went to her class by herself while Masaya and Misaki went to the classroom. Asuka and Madoka then walked over to them.

"Hey, did ya hear?" Madoka asked excitedly.

"About what?" Masaya asked.

"Some new Grav-Shoes have been made and are going to be made to the public!" Asuka said, very happy about the idea of more new Grav-Shoes.

"Really?" Misaki asked with interest. "What are they like?"

"According to the rumors-" Madoka started, but voices cut her off.

Looking around the room, everyone seemed to be talking about them. "For real!?" one person asked excitedly.

"Anyone can play with unlocked balancers and keep control!?" someone else exclaimed in awe.

"Well, there you have it," Madoka said, seeing no reason to explain now.

"Hmm, I don't like it, given strength that isn't yours," Misaki voiced. "If everyone can do it, it's not special anymore, and no longer something you have to earn yourself."

"That's not true!" Asuka said, full of liveliness. "If everyone can play like that, then we'll have such awesome matches! I can't wait!"

"I expected you to say that," Madoka smiled nervously. "But, it does seem kinda cool."

Aoi was mixed on it. It felt wrong to her to just let anyone do something like that they didn't work for, but FC should be for fun, and if people wanted to use them, who was she to deny that right? It's their choice.

'It does have a weak point,' Aoi thought to further why it may not be so bad. 'If someone who isn't used to flying like that does so, they'll burn out like Shindou did over time, or even worse in some people's case because they don't have such levels of stamina. Of course, being they link to your being and calibrate themself to your best comfort makes it easy for you to be in control in that state, but it is a double-edged sword until they get naturally used to flying like that and handling the stamina required. They're meant mainly for those who can't keep up with really great players. Obviously, this was an attempt to tackle the complaints some have had about the worry of most just getting beaten as soon as they come across a person who can do what Shindou and Inui did in the last tournament. Even though Tobisawa should have proven you can win without mastering them, I can understand that not everyone feels that way or is as confident about it. Furthemore, Kurashina was in serious danger when she unlocked her balancers in the tournament, so that's another reason why these new Grav-Shoes are being made, so something like that doesn't happen again.'

Aoi then had class begin. Elsewhere at other schools, people were talking about the new Grav-Shoes as well with mixed opinions.

After school, a person standing outside walked up to Masaya and co. "Our sponser wants us to give out invitations to schools. For you guys." the person said, handing a letter to them.

"Us?" Masaya said, taking it and looking at it. "Testing the new Grav-Shoes!?"

"EH!?" the others but Aoi were thrown off guard by that information.

"Correct, we wanted to invite those who have yet to master their balancers, or those who aren't that strong, to come and test out these new Grav-Shoes," the man said. "Today the Shoes are open for FC players to test out. So if any of you feel like going, you can. Well then, I'll be off."

After he left, Mashiro decided.

"I'll go," Mashiro said in a good mood. "I'm not that great compared to the rest of you, so why not? Plus it sounds pretty exciting!"

"Yes, maybe I-" Madoka's brother was cut off by Madoka elbowing him in the gut.

"You still have studies to do-ga!" Madoka started with an evil eye look, but her expression turned into panic, as he grabbed her hands with tears streaming down his face.

"Please, I'll do it afterwards!" he begged in a teary voice.

"I-I got it..." Madoka softened up, now feeling a little bad for trying to take such an exciting opportunity from him. "But studying comes first thing you get back-o-onii-chan!"

"Thank you very much!" Shion had enveloped her in an affectionate hug.

"N-not in front of everyone!" Madoka yelled with red cheeks and a flustered tone due to not expecting him to do that.

The others laughed at her embarrassment. Aoi joined them, and then they left for the FC labs. After getting there, they were greeted by one of the scientists at the desk entrance.

"Are you guys here to test them out too?" he asked them.

"Yeah," Masaya said.

"Go to the room on the left and then head up the stairs," the person suggested. "That's where the testing area is."

"Thank you," Aoi said politely.

Upon reaching said room, they were amazed. There were various guys and girls playing with the new Grav-Shoes with smiles on their faces.

"This is great!" one of the girls yelled in joy. "I can now fly like this whenever!"

"Right, this is so fun!" a guy yelled as he flew around the big room. "I never thought I would be flying like this!"

"It really works," Misaki said, impressed.

"I may have to try it myself," Madoka said, curious.

"Awesome, awesome awesome!" Asuka said with stars in her eyes as she looked rapidly back and forth at everyone flying about so fast.

"My spirit is lit, it tells me to try it!" Shion said just as happily as Asuka. "Kurashina, face me after I put one on!"

Both then bolted towards the wall with the tester ones. Masaya and his group sweat dropped.

"They have way too much energy," Mashiro said, before noticing someone. "Huh? Rika!"

"Eh?" Rika asked, facing the sound of the voice. "Mashiro! So you came too!"

"I wanted to try them out," Mashiro said.

"Me too," Rika said, smiling at her. "Say, why don't you grab some and the two of us have a test match?"

"You're on!" Mashiro said in a friendly tone.

As the two went in the direction of Asuka and Shion, Masaya faced Misaki. "You're not going to give them a try?" he asked her.

"Hmm, there's no need," Misaki started. "I have nothing against people using them, but I want to fly with my own strength. Using those new Grav-Shoes means I'm using strength I didn't earn, and that's not my way of FC."

"I see," Masaya said.

"Besides, I already mastered my balancers, so there's no need for me to try these," Misaki said.

Meanwhile, Mashiro was putting on the new Grav-Shoes for a test run. "Where's Satou?" Mashiro asked, looking around.

"She was held up with some school duties," Rika said.

"My spirit has been unlocked!" Shion's voice drew Mashiro and Rika's attention.

Shion had full control after turning off the balancers on these new Grav-Shoes, so he was having the time of his life racing Asuka around the place.

"Flyyyyy!" Asuka stated as the two kept racing each other.

"Well then, shall we give it a try?" Rika asked, turning off the balancers on the Grav-Shoes, and Mashiro did the same.

Mashiro and Rika both blinked as they lifted off the ground without losing balance. "Wow, this feels really comfortable!" Mashiro exclaimed.

"I really can move with no loss of control!" Rika said in astonishment after she started flying around. "Now, let's test ourselves in a fight."

"Right!" Mashiro smiled confidently. "Eat this!"

Mashiro went agressive right off the bat and clashed with her. "Not yet!" Rika said, doing a low yoyo, now boosted thanks to being able to play like this.

"I'd say these new Grav-Shoes are doing wonders for those two," Masaya commented with folded arms.

"No kidding," Misaki said, quite impressed at how much better they were doing thanks to those new Grav-Shoes. "They really do do what they advertise."

"It's kinda scary that people can be this good just by using them," Madoka said.

Before long, Mashiro and Rika stopped due to the fact niether was used to really flying that fast. The two were pretty exhausted. Shion tired out as well, proving too much for him to do for very long.

A week later, the new Grav-Shoes were released, and among the buyers, Mashiro was one of them. She still needed to get used to flying that fast without burning herself out, but it was something she would work on. She smiled widely as she played against Masaya, Misaki and Asuka on equal footing. Aoi smiled as she watched. Indeed, it seemed these new Grav-Shoes were just fine. Rika and Satou bought the new Grav-Shoes as well and practiced with joy. It warmed Shindou to see Rika even more hyped than usual. In other parts of the world, people were playing with the new Grav-Shoes as well and were greatly happy, as were most of the people watching them.

Masaya and Misaki at one point walked around town alone together and saw all the excited people talking or buying the new Grav-Shoes. Likewise Asuka was elsewhere, and had glazed eyes while smiling at all the people talking about the new Grav-Shoes or holding a box containing them, as this is what she truly always wished for FC: To be joyous and full of smiles. Shion was back at the trailer, doing his homework with comical tears while Madoka stood next to him to make sure he doesn't try to get out of it. Mashiro and Rika sat at Mashiro's house while chilling and eating together. As for Irina and Saki, they sat outside together having tea while watching the tree leaves move back and forth with the wind.

Back with Masaya and Misaki, Misaki still didn't want to use the new Grav-Shoes, but she looked happy as she watched the happiness of everyone. Grabbing Misaki's waist and pressing her next to him, he smiled at her and she in turn smiled back while she rested her head on his neck. As if responding to the peacefulness of everything going on, the sun shined majestically. Yes, the future was looking better than ever, as was FCS' prosperity.

THE END.


End file.
